The Lost and The Found
by Dreams of Shadows
Summary: For Alex it is a boring day- until Akatsuki kidnap her. But heres the weird thing- everyone is being 'nice'. Then she learns of her true identity, a hidden past and a dark secret- she was designed to be something more than shinobi, something much darker.
1. Chapter 1

The rain pounded down on my bedroom roof, making me glad I had decided to come straight home instead of going out with my friends. It wasn't because I was emo or anything, but because I had a huge essay due in tomorrow that I hadn't even started yet.

Note to self: Stop leaving things till the last second.

So here I was sitting cross legged on my bed whilst trying to start the essay- starting it was the only hard thing for me, once I got started it came easily to me. Of course, it probably didn't help that I had put Naruto Shippuuden on as background noise- since I spent more time staring at the screen than writing.

It was the part where Deidara captures Gaara and Kankuro goes after them- not that he gets far. I had only recently purchased this on DVD so I was determined to watch it- but the fact that I had to do the essay and the rain was louder than thunder didn't help.

"Damn you stupid weather," I growled under my breath before turning up the TV, and since my most recent foster mum had died- leaving me the flat in her will- I didn't have to worry about anyone yelling at me.

I scribbled out what I had so far wrote and decided instead to work on my fanfiction called _'The Lost and The Found'_ which was about Naruto finding his sister- an OC of mine called Arashi Mangetsu- who the gets kidnapped by Orochimaru and Naruto goes to rescue her.

So whilst I was doing this, the rain decided to get louder and louder until following a bright flash of lightning, the power goes and leaves me pissed off. Not that it takes much to make me pissed off- I have a short fuse.

I grumbled under my breath before grabbing the flashlight from next to my bed- it being winter meant it got dark very early, and the clouds weren't helping. Unfortunately I had removed the batteries, so I had to search for them in the bombsite called my bedroom.

After a couple of minutes I found one and then immediately proceeded to find the other one. I cheered mentally before placing them back inside.

"And then there was light," I muttered under my breath as light poured out of it- into my eyes. "Crap!" I growled, dropping the light which I had been pointing at my eyes as I fixed it.

I went to pick it up when there was a loud bang from downstairs (It was a two floor flat)- my heartbeat immediately sped up.

Another thing about me is that I can be extremely paranoid when I'm on my own.

"It's okay," I whispered to myself. "It's probably just one of the cats or something."

So, being the brave person I am, I tiptoed over to the door- switching off the torch just in case. Peering out, I spotted something moving out of the corner of my eye and quickly turned to look at it.

Dante sauntered over and meowed, which made me sigh. That black cat was always scaring me- and invading my room. I watched him as he slipped past me and into the bedroom.

I was about to follow him, when another bang sounded from downstairs. Who could it be? Could it be Luna- my little tabby cat? Or perhaps one of my friends trying to pull a prank on me- I really should have locked the door when I got back.

"Do you reckon the kid's back? I could have sworn I heard something upstairs?"

Two feelings enveloped me when I heard the man speak, one was fear the other was annoyance- I was eighteen, not eight!

"Nah- she's probably hanging out with her friends, besides we could easily overpower a girl… and possibly have a little fun with her…"

Bile rose in my throat, and I ran back into my room as quietly as I could and picked up my mobile.

No signal.

Fear rose in my chest, and I fought the overwhelming urge to hide- there was no way I was letting these bastards do whatever the hell they wanted in my house! I wasn't going to be scared of them…much…

Dante meowed at me as he emerged from under my bed.

"We're in some deep shit now," I whispered to him.

Dante, in time, went back to hiding under my bed as I pulled out a wooden baseball bat from under my bed- a reminder of my 'brother' Sam. It may have been a bit old and worn, but it would certainly be effective in taking down the people below- who I hoped was actually just two, I mean they could have split up or something.

But maybe they have guns- it would be best if I went for the phone in the kitchen, which should work… hopefully.

So, gathering up the remains of my courage, I tiptoed out of the room- bat at the ready. Everything seemed quiet, which was bad for me since I now had no idea where they were. But as soon as I thought that, I heard voices coming from the bedroom _right next to mine_.

"Fucking hell- doesn't this bitch have anything useful?"

Two things struck me at that moment; one, that wasn't either of the two I heard downstairs- and two, he reminded me instantly of Hidan. Funny what your mind does when you're in trouble- or maybe it was just me.

I crept along the landing and looked to see if the bedroom door was open- thankfully it was mostly closed. So I continued on my way, aware that at any time they could come out of the room or the two downstairs could come up- but what didn't occur to me was how the hell they had got in there, that door squeaked like hell. At the time I would have assumed they came through the window, only later remembering that window doesn't open.

Peering over the banister, I looked for any sign of the intruders and listened intently for any sort of noise. I soon heard two people arguing,

"They were nice."

"Quiet- the girl could be in the house!"

"You said she wasn't."

"I said she probably wasn't."

It was two completely different people to the ones earlier- how many people had invaded my home?

There was a noise behind me, and I swivelled around to come face-to-face with…

I stared in disbelief at the person in front of me- surely it was a joke, he wasn't real- and yet here he was, standing in front of me in all of his evil glory, was Hidan.

Surely it was a cosplayer- but no cosplayer could become a character to exact detail, and yet every part of me was refusing to believe it was real. But that didn't stop me from being scared, scared that the person before me was the one who would kill me.

He certainly did look like he wanted to kill me, since he was smirking in that oh-so familiar Hidan way.

There was no way this was real- it had to be a nightmare, the essay must have put me to sleep. But there was no way I could sleep through the storm which battered my house. So the only possible reason was that this was all real.

But it couldn't be.

"Hey- I've found the bitch!" he shouted.

His voice sounded exactly like his Japanese one, and the bat fell to the floor as these conflicting messages pounded at the inside of my skull.

"You don't need to shout- I'm right here," growled another familiar voice. "She looks like Itachi- maybe that has something to do with why she's so important to Leader."

I turned my head slightly to see Kakuzu, who was studying me carefully as I remained paralysed with fear.

"Who gives a fuck? We can go back now- besides I need to make a sacrifice. Though it's a fucking shame I can't sacrifice this bitch!"

"Leader said the girl was to be brought back alive. _**So how about you stop complaining," **_said a familiar voice… er… voices.

Those were the voices I had heard downstairs, but I didn't have to turn around to know that behind me was the cannibal called Zetsu.

"Are you Alex Fisher?" asked Kakuzu, almost gently- which got me suspicious immediately.

"What the fuck?" shouted Hidan.

"Leader told us to be nice to her," snapped Kakuzu. Although that didn't exactly make me feel any better- it probably meant they were trying to get me on there side so they could use or something.

"So are you?"

I gave a small nod, and there was a pause as Kakuzu formed a handsign. Light filled the area and as I lost sight of everything, one last thought formed in my head.

At least I don't have to do that essay.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the songs mentioned in this story.**

"Once there was a time when we could learn  
all the simple pleasantries a follower should yearn  
now all that I can do is watch them burn  
and wish that I could save them all, or just one"

As I sung the song under my breath, it made me think of Akatsuki. The last two lines that is, because I had always wished I could save them-and I know had the chance to do that.

But would I take it?

Upon arriving here I had been placed in a bedroom and told that Leader would see me shortly. So I spent the next ten minutes staring out of the window- yes, there was a window. It showed me the village and other parts of this building- which was just a normal building (for this place anyway). Well, it is Pein's village so I guess he doesn't have to worry about security and stuff.

Hidan and Kakuzu left as soon as they had 'deposited' me- as they put it. They had to go bounty hunting again- which Hidan was not pleased about, expressing that by even more cussing. Which made me think about his parents-did they swear as much as him, and did he even know them? I made a mental note to ask him at some point- though I didn't think I'd get an answer, or at least not a pleasant one.

I wondered about who could be in the building- I assumed Zetsu was still here, and Pein and Konan were probably here. I hadn't heard anyone when we came in- so maybe they were on missions. It had been said that the organisation was rarely fully assembled, so maybe it would be a while till I met the others- who I was sure were alive because the Zombie Combi were here, but Sasori I wasn't so sure about.

I turned around so my back was facing the window and studied the bedroom- it was very similar to my bedroom, apart from the futon and the fact it was clean. Which was very weird for me since my room was often littered with crumpled up balls of paper from failed stories and essays. I walked over to the wardrobe and looked inside, surprised to see several kimonos and various other clothes that looked suspiciously like shinobi style clothes.

There was a knock at the door, and I turned to see Zetsu walk into the room.

"Leader will see you now. _**Follow me**_," he said, before walking out of the room again.

I quickly walked out of the room as I attempted to follow him, eventually slowing down as I caught up to him. Apparently shinobi are even faster walkers than me- and I am no slowpoke.

The corridors were, once again, just average corridors- although it did feel like I was walking through a maze at some times. It was also very silent- even quieter than my house if that were possible. But then again, I'm willing to bet that they don't have cats in the building. Speaking of cats, now I'll never get to finish that fanfic I was writing.

We soon arrived at a door that seemed to emanate a weird aura kind of thing, and I guessed that this was the room I would be entering. The clue being that Zetsu waited next to it and indicated for me to go on, which I did- hesitantly. For who knew what would happen once I met Pein- I could be killed were I stand and turned into one of Sasori's puppets, if he were still alive.

But the others had mentioned that I was important to Pein, so maybe I wouldn't have to worry about being killed, maimed or anything like that- unless they wanted info about my world which would mean I am epically screwed- so to speak.

I entered the room, trying not to laugh as I realised just how normal looking it was- I should have learnt from earlier that everything wasn't going to be all doom and gloom. Though the fear and anger about being kidnapped was fogging my mind slightly- so it was difficult for me to use logic at the moment- not that I ever used it in the first place. Since I am the kind of person who will spend ages trying to assemble something and then give up- without even glancing at the instructions.

"You are Alex Fisher." It was more of a statement than a question, but I nodded anyway as I looked at the Leader of Akatsuki. He was seriously scary- which made me wonder about how scary Madara must be. May I never see him truly- Tobi I can handle.

"You are probably wondering about why I had you brought here, and that will be explained in due time. For the moment, you will be treated as a guest of Akatsuki- though don't expect the members to be as courteous as you hope they will be."

Something about that sentence made me think that he knew about fanfics, and I felt the sudden urge to question him about it. He probably wouldn't answer anyway, so there was no point.

"You won't find yourself under watch- but I do ask that you respect the boundaries or the hospitality you are receiving will reach a sudden and abrupt end."

Again I nodded, and he declined his head slightly in what I knew was a sign of dismissal- having watched plenty of movies with gangs in and stuff. So I walked out of the room, closing the door behind me- only to find that Zetsu had gone, which was just great since I hadn't memorised the way from my room to here. So I decided to do a bit of exploring instead- since there appeared to be no one else here.

I headed along the corridor I was on until I reached a stairwell, which I proceeded to go down- I would start my exploration from the bottom and head upwards. At the very bottom- I think I was on the basement level- there was a dojo style room.

There were several holes in the walls and floors- so I guess it wasn't just taijutsu practised here. It was a pretty spacious area, which I guessed was a good thing- after all, I am not a master of this area.

A movement out of the corner of my eye made my breath catch in my throat- especially since that movement was a person, and that person was Itachi Uchiha. He has apparently noticed me- which wasn't unsurprising- and was watching me emotionlessly.

I thought about leaving, since I didn't want to spend time with the person who I resembled. I mean, I didn't have the lines, my eyes were icy blue and my hair was more Sasuke's colour- but other than that we looked remarkably similar. So maybe he was suspicious of me- well, he could be _anything _of me and I wouldn't know. He was, on the outside, emotionless- apart from the intensity of his eyes.

My friends often joked that I was Itachi's long lost twin- and standing here I am starting to agree. Maybe that would explain why I felt like he wanted me to come over- because twins have weird bond-things don't they. But I wasn't related to him- we came from different worlds. Plus, if we were twins that would make him eighteen and that would mean we were in the Timeskip era.

So I decided to walk over to him- and not because of any psychic bonds, but because I wanted to see how he would react to me if I gave him a hint I knew about the truth behind the massacre.

If you're wondering, I'm still frightened- the only thing that is pushing me to do this is curiosity and the fact I won't get killed… hopefully.

"You're Alex then," he commented. "I assume you know who I am."

I remembered that on Narutopedia it had mentioned him possessing no arrogance and treating Akatsuki members with a respectful personality- which I think he was using now.

"Yeah," I replied quietly. "You're Itachi Uchiha."

Even though I knew he couldn't –and wouldn't- kill me, I still couldn't help feel nervous to be in his presence.

And not just him- but Hidan, Zetsu, Kakuzu and Pein also. They all gave off an energy (chakra perhaps?) which made me feel so weak and delicate- which in turn annoyed me slightly. Perhaps I could get trained as a shinobi or something.

"What are you doing down here?" questioned Itachi, breaking my train of thought.

"Looking around since I couldn't remember my way back to my room, and because I didn't think anyone was here because it was so quiet."

"Hn," was the reply I received- which almost made me smile. The famous Uchiha 'hn', what any Itachi fangirl would give to be in my place- which they could gladly have.

"Were you training? Did I interrupt you?"

Although I wanted to drop a hint that I knew about the truth, I found that I couldn't- the idea of it making my throat tighten.

"Yes I was- but you didn't interrupt me," replied Itachi. "I was going to take a break now anyway- I'll show you the way back to your room if you like."

"That would be nice- thank you," I replied.

"Hn."


	3. Chapter 3

I was once again back in my room, left to stare out at the cloudy sky- the rain having stopped several minutes ago. Several people were making their separate ways through the winding streets, and I wondered if any of them knew about the organisation which resided here. I mean, since it was Pein's village then they might know- but then again they might not, for safety reasons.

I pressed my forehead against the cool glass, watching my breath as it fogged up the glass. There wasn't anything for me to do unless… I shook the idea from my head- I couldn't go out, even though Pein hadn't mentioned anything about not going outside. He also hadn't mentioned anything about being allowed- so that was a grey area. To go out or not to go out, I mused, that is the question.

"Damn you English lessons," I muttered, unhappy about Shakespeare quote's being stuck in my head, and about the rain which gave the village its name- hey, I was British and we love to complain about the weather.

There was a knock at the door, and I turned as it opened to reveal a very creepy face. I was half-tempted to call him several of the nicknames I knew, though it was best not to push it.

"So you're the one they were sent after," commented Kisame, as he studied me carefully. "It looks like they were right when they said you resembled Itachi."

"Yeah," I replied, unhappy about the intrusion- I wasn't emo or anything but I did prefer to be left alone.

"Have you gone out at all yet?" he questioned. "Because Itachi and I were going out into the village to get some stuff, so you could come along."

This nice thing was getting weird I thought- especially since Kisame did it best, though I had always thought of him as being the 'nice' one even if he did like to mutilate people.

"Sure," I replied. I had just been thinking about it, and maybe I could get over my fears- especially since Kisame gave out more energy (Which I was 95% sure now is chakra) than the others.

"You might want to change though- you're clothes will make you stand out."

He then left leaving me speechless- were my clothes really that different? They were similar to ninja clothes- though without the mesh. Maybe I resembled someone from an enemy village or something.

So I once again opened the wardrobe to study the outfits- I thought a kimono would be best to wear, but I was a tomboy and hated dresses and other such things. But I didn't want to stick out of the crowd, and so in the end decided I would wear trousers and a t-shirt under the kimono to make me feel more comfortable.

In the end, I was wearing black trousers and a black tank top underneath my midnight blue kimono with silver patterns and a silver obi. Also placing on sandals and a black choke necklace with a gemstone that kinda looked like the earth- which I knew was lapis lazuli.

Studying myself in the full length mirror on the door, I decided it didn't look that bad- though I knew I wouldn't be wearing these without another outfit underneath.

Seconds later there was a knock at the door- though the person didn't come in straight away as the others had.

"Come in," I called, feeling a bit more self-confident as I had met the scariest members already- just three/four members to meet and I had met them all.

The door opened, and I looked in the mirror to see it was Itachi who came in this time. He looked at me and waited until I had turned around to face him before he spoke.

"You look beautiful," he commented.

"Thanks," I replied, blushing- no one had ever complimented my appearance before, and I hadn't expected Itachi to be the first.

"We'd better go then- Kisame is waiting to go."

I nodded and followed him wordlessly, finding it easier to walk in silence- there was nothing to talk about anyway. Mentally crossing my fingers, I hoped I would now remember where my room was and wouldn't have to embarrass myself again.

Kisame was waiting for us by the entrance/exit and he smirked slightly when he saw us.

"You look nice Alex," he said, and I guessed he was smirking because he could easily compare mine and Itachi's similarities now.

"Let's go," said Itachi, without even a glance at his partner.

We headed out of the building, and I hoped it wouldn't rain since I didn't have anything to prevent me from getting soaked to the bone. Looking around, I was amazed at how different Amegakure was to any of the places I had seen before- it was a cool place, thought it wouldn't be my choice of home (if I had one) since I wasn't too fond of the rain.

We walked along silently, which I was thankful for since I wanted to study every detail of this place- even if it did make me look like a grockle (That's what people in my town call tourists). Kisame often smirked whenever he saw me looking around in surprise- but it didn't bother me, I was just happy to be able to look around this place.

I wondered what the time was- it had been about four when I arrived, so shouldn't that make it around five or something. I hadn't been in this world all that long, but I was already beginning to feel my anxieties and fear melting away. Instead, I was starting to feel hungry- having not been able to eat my lunch since my Maths teacher had wanted to speak to me at lunchtime. Apparently, my silent nature worried him since he didn't know if I was ever in trouble or not.

Yeah, if only he could see me now.

The first shop that we entered was like some kind of weapon shop- I didn't know they had those, but then again where else would they get their kunai and shuriken. So whilst they talked to the owner, I looked around at the different weapons that they had. Some I expected to be there- katana, kunai, tanto- and some I didn't – cutlass, quarter staff, spear- which surprised me slightly. But what caught my attention were twin katana blades- they had black hilts with silver patterns covering them, and their sheathes had images of Asian dragons on. The cold metal of the blades shone in the dim light of the store and I found myself mesmerised.

"You have a good eye for weapons," I jumped slightly as the owner appeared next to me, as Kisame and Itachi watched carefully. "They are very special- their blades were formed from a metal that supposedly fell from space."

The owner gave me the creeps- he was like a creepy old hunchback, especially with the smile which seemed almost perverted. I'll bet he was a stalker, back in the old days.

"I doubt that," said Kisame, as he appeared next to me- and I half-hoped he didn't see me jump again. "They don't look that special."

"Believe me; they have blades which could cut through anything."

They continued their 'argument' which I thought about how this metal from space business reminded me of several different things. Though I would say I'd have to agree with Kisame, since they looked like ordinary katana- probably worse if he was weaving all these tales to try and make us buy them. In the end, Itachi interrupted them and we continued on our little trip.

The next few shops were uninteresting- first aid, food etc etc. We then had a break and had dinner at a tea house kind of place, were I sat next to Kisame as he questioned me about weapons. This meant I only thought longer about those katana- which reminded me, it would be my birthday on June 9th, same as Itachi.

Well, I couldn't get him a present or anything- for numerous reasons. Besides, I didn't know if shinobi celebrated on their birthday- although I doubted it.

I drank a bit of the water I had ordered- not being fond of tea at all. I wished the food would arrive quicker; my stomach would probably growl soon and embarrass me. So I instead tried to focus on what Kisame was talking about rather than my hunger.

"Leader told us about weapons called 'guns' that exist in your world- are they actually real, they sound a bit fantasised to me," he questioned.

"They're real," I replied. "Although there are lots of different types- like pistols, machine guns and snipers."

We continued this string of conversation until the food arrived- which for me was a chicken curry. Thank the lord I knew how to use chopsticks, after curiosity had got the better of me once and I had attempted it until I could do it. But I wished I had more water because this was really spicy, and I wasn't going to give more ammunition for Kisame. He may not have teased me so far, but that smirk was getting on my nerves.

Wow, I am really getting over my fears, I thought, as I stared over the rim of my cup. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all- I just hoped I could survive long enough to see more of this world.


	4. Chapter 4

A fortnight had passed since the day out, and I was now pretty much over my fears- though I still didn't speak my mind around Akatsuki. I mean, they were still evil- no matter how nice they acted to me.

Several days ago, Pein had told me that all Akatsuki members would be returning to the base for a while after Hidan caused some trouble- which I guessed happened quite a lot. So most people were here now- even an uncloaked Tobi, who I had spotted tagging along after Zetsu. The only people who hadn't turned up yet were Deidara and Sasori.

So I was yet again sitting on the bed in my room, staring at the pale ceiling and wondering if Pein would let me repaint this room- it would certainly give me something to do. Since there was nothing to do in the base, and I'm sure that Akatsuki members didn't want me bugging them- even if they did come into my room occasionally.

Though that was just to check on me- since I had to be looked after, and I rarely came out of the room.

I stifled a sigh as there was a knock at the door, and went over to open it (I had locked it earlier to stop people bursting in). Upon opening it, I was utterly surprised to see Deidara and Sasori standing there- if the thing Hiruko does is standing.

"So you're the brat they had to fetch?" questioned Sasori, whilst Deidara just stared at me with surprise- I guess he didn't expect me to look like the person he hated most in the world.

Does that mean he'll hate me? I hope not, he was kinda cute after all.

Sasori then left, leaving Deidara and I staring at one another like starstruck lovers. As I looked into his sapphire blue eyes, I tried to figure out what he was thinking- but I was never any good at that kind of stuff.

"So… I'm Deidara- how about you, hmm?"

I thought Deidara was supposed to be an arrogant, short-tempered sadist? Maybe he was still in shock.

"I'm Alex."

"Any relation to Uchiha, hmm?"

"If you mean Itachi –then no, not that I know of."

That sentence seemed to set his brain back in gear, and we soon had a cocky grin on his face. I half wished I could slap it off him- he looked better brain-dead.

"That's good- it would be awful if I had to hate you as well."

"Hate me as well? Why do you hate Itachi?" I asked, though I already knew- and I'm sure Pein knew I knew, but I'm betting he hadn't told these lot from what I know.

"His Sharingan- always mocking my art," he said, bitterness apparent in his voice. "What do you think of art, hmm?"

"Art? I don't really think about art," I said carefully, not wanting to tell him that I wasn't interested in art full stop. "What about you?"

He grinned before holding out one of his clay birds,

"Art is an explosion," he said. "This is one of my clay bombs- do you like it, hmm?"

"Is it going to explode?"

"Not now."

"Then yes, yes I like it."

He blinked in surprise before chuckling and putting the bomb away, and I let go of the breath I had apparently been holding. Who knew? Anyway, I was just glad I wasn't going to become art.

"So what are you doing now, hmm? If you're doing nothing then I could show you my art in its glory!"

Was he asking me on a date? I mentally smacked myself on the head for even thinking that- just because he appears to like you and is cute doesn't mean he's asking you on a date!

"Sure," I replied. "I haven't got anything else to do."

So with that, I left the room and walked beside him as we walked to wherever we were going- and he questioned me about what I thought of the other members.

"So how about Hidan, hmm?"

"Hidan? He's very loud- doesn't he know how to talk? I might go deaf if I stay in his presence. Plus, he swears to much- I swear, but I think it's weird to swear that much. I'm surprised Kakuzu hasn't killed him yet."

Deidara laughed and I hoped Hidan hadn't overhead that- I didn't want to be his next sacrifice.

"Kakuzu can't kill him- he's immortal," he replied.

"Well then cut him up into little pieces and spread the pieces far and wide so he can't be put back together," I replied with a grin, as Deidara laughed again.

"Nice- you have a very evil mind." He turned to look at me, and I placed a mock innocent look on my face.

"Me? I wouldn't hurt a fly?"

We were still laughing when we entered the dojo, and were both surprised to see Itachi and Tobi there.

"Hi there! I'm Tobi!"

Hmm, can't guess who that was.

I jumped slightly as Tobi appeared in front of me, tilting his head slightly as he observed me.

"What do you want?" growled Deidara.

If he hated him already then I couldn't wait to see what they'd be like when they were partners. As I thought this a lump rose in my throat- Sasori would be the first to die. Sure he didn't really care about me, but I liked Sasori- even if he didn't like me. Though Hiruko was the most fugly puppet ever, so I didn't like him- the tail was cool though.

"Tobi just wanted to see the pretty girl- she looks like Itachi!"

Tobi was taller than both me and Deidara- which made me feel short, which I was. I was shorter than all of the members of Akatsuki- including Sasori when he wasn't in Hiruko. So you can imagine how I felt standing next to Kisame- one reason why I didn't.

"The 'pretty girl' has a name," I sighed, acting like I didn't know that Tobi was really the most evil ninja ever- though I'm sure he knew the truth, like Pein- and possibly Konan.

"Sorry, Tobi does not know your name. What is it?"

"I'm Alex."

"Alex? That's a pretty name!"

It was at that moment Itachi chose to join us.

"Don't you have to find Zetsu," he said to Tobi- who was just about shorter than him. Damn Itachi for being tall, it makes me feel inferior.

"Oh yeah" Bye Alex, Tobi will see you later!"

With that he was gone, and I was left wondering what Madara had said to Itachi because he was now regarding me in a way I felt uncomfortable about. Maybe he's been told some horrible secret about me- or maybe he's been told that I know the truth about the massacre. Who knows what is going on in his head?

"I'd advise you to stay away from Tobi," Itachi said to me, whilst Deidara death glared him- oh yeah, he hates him… It slipped out of my mind again.

"Why?" I questioned, but he had already turned and was leaving.

Silence ruled as I wondered what Itachi had meant- I knew Tobi was Madara, but Itachi didn't know that. So why would he ask me to stay away? I'm not anything special to him.

With a shrug, I listened to Deidara as he got ready to show me his art. It was probably just a warning in general- just in case Madara wanted to try something.


	5. Chapter 5

Right now, I was deciding whether to laugh or continue to clench my teeth against the pain. Deidara had got a bit carried away with his bombs and one of them had burnt my left arm- so I was now having it healed by Konan whilst Deidara got berated by several members. But I had a feeling they didn't really care about me, they just wanted an excuse to argue.

"You're lucky- it was only a small burn," commented Konan.

"Didn't feel small- it was worse than the time I burnt myself with the soldering iron," I said with a sigh. Remembering the time when it had happened- I still had the circular burn on the back of my right hand (I'm left handed- a child of the devil).

"Soldering iron?"

"It's this thing with a really hot tip that you use to melt this wire and then you use the melted metal to seal something."

She nodded, but I don't know if she really understood it- but she'll at least get that the hot tip burnt my hand- one of the reasons why I dropped DT as soon as I could.

"All done," said Konan, and I looked at my arm to see the burn was completely gone.

"Wow- I wish our hospitals could do stuff like this."

"It would certainly be more efficient," she agreed. So I guess Pein had told her about my world- though if it truly was my world then I would change some things. I could be like the Sage of Six paths!

Deidara skulked over and sat next to me on the sofa- yes, I wasn't in my room. I was in a very large living room that had more than enough seats- plus my TV and Sky box! Which surprisingly got signal here- Pein said it was something to do with waves and signals travelling through both worlds or something like that.

We were currently watching Robot Wars Extreme (My choice), since it was a good programme and I had wanted to see the reactions of the Akatsuki members to this. Unfortunately they didn't really show much of a reaction- though Hidan had become a fan really quickly. I mean, who doesn't want to watch homemade robots fight each other to the end?

They'd also brought my DVD player, PS3 and Wii- including all of the games and DVDs. So I couldn't wait to introduce Hidan to Saw- or Sasori to Dead Silence.

I had asked Pein why he had brought my stuff over (he had been in the room a few minutes earlier), and he had said it was a way to keep me and the others occupied. But I had a feeling it was for something different- maybe he was planning on invading my world or something.

"Do you actually like this, hmm?" questioned Deidara, after several minutes of sulking.

"Yeah- I think it's wicked," I replied, as Konan left us.

"Wicked, hmm? You think it's evil, hmm?"

"No- wicked as in awesome."

Deidara was bemused, which made me laugh.

"But wicked doesn't mean that."

"It does where I come from."

"Well you come from a weird place them."

Deidara started laughing as well, at my mock hurt face.

"Says the one with extra mouths. BTW, what do you use them for?"

Deidara was backed to looking bemused.

"BTW?"

"By the way- we use a lot of abbreviations, mostly when texting or Emailing."

"Texting and emailing? What's that, hmm?"

"I'm not explaining everything to you, but they're both ways of communicating electronically."

"Is that even a word, hmm?"

He laughed as I hit him on the arm,

"Don't doubt my technological knowledge- or I'll introduce to Sasodei lemons!"

That really confused him, which made me laugh even more. Maybe he was having a Scrubs moment now, who knows?

**-XxX-**

I was now getting ready for bed after a really chaotic meal- I guess those fanfictions were right, though no food fight broke out. Deidara repeatedly questioned me about the different words we used, and often had to explain some things to those who had been confused by Robot Wars Extreme, South Park, Scrubs and GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

It took me a few days, but I was now extremely comfortable in being here- though I still avoided Tobi and Hidan, who still threatened to sacrifice me if I annoyed him. Of course, Deidara was the one I got along with most- even though I'd only known him- the real him- for a day.

But maybe this was a bad thing, they were all gonna die- except Zetsu and Tobi/ Madara. Even though, some get resurrected- including Deidara. Maybe getting close to them will just make that lose so much worse- I should have just avoided them. Though they do burst into my room without permission.

Speaking of which, I should stop thinking about him and get to sleep- since I often get an unwelcome visitor in the unholy hours of the morning.

**-XxX-**

Waking up, I found a grinning Deidara leaning over me and I automatically pulled up the sheets-even though I was wearing black silk pyjamas.

"Can I help you?" I growled- I wasn't a morning person, and I vaguely despised all morning people. There is only so much happy you can be in a day- and for Hidan that appears to be zero.

"Get ready, we are going on a trip," he said with a grin.

"Trip? I thought you weren't allowed to go anywhere thanks to Hidan?"

"Yeah, but I told Pein he should allow you to look around places over than this building and the rain village."

"And he agreed?"

"Konan helped, so now me and you can do some exploring- I could take you anywhere!"

Deidara seemed pleased with this idea, but I was worried about getting attacked or kidnapped-surely he couldn't defend us both. He did, after all, burn my arm with his bombs.

"Fine-but get out while I'm changing."

He grinned even wider-if that was possible (He's turning into Tobi) - and then left the room. I think he was just happy about being able to leave this place. That thought was making me happy as well; it would be nice to look around.

So I pulled on some black trousers, a fishnet t-shirt with a black tank top over that and a black jacket with a silver kanji on the back-which I think read universe. There was no point wearing a kimono- especially if we were going to be flying.

After I let Deidara back in the room, he told me about his plans for where we were going. But I didn't pay attention, as a feeling of foreboding had filled me- something was going to happen.


	6. Chapter 6

A few hours later and we were on our way to the first destination, some weird town called Otoshiana which was apparently some kind of ninja-free tourist trap. The first thing that popped into my head was that it was this world's version of Disney. Of course, Deidara didn't get it- even though I'd watched Lilo & Stitch before we left.

Right now I was trying to figure out whether the redness of my cheeks was to do with the fact it was very cold at this altitude, or the fact I was being held by Deidara so I didn't fall to my death. I thanked Jashin he wasn't looking at me, though he couldn't say much because he was slightly red. Speaking of Red, I like their song Already Over- I should introduce Deidara to it. Maybe then I could introduce him to Youtube- that would be fun, especially with the pairings one.

"You all right, hmm?" questioned Deidara, and I turned to look at him.

"Yeah, I'm planning something evil," I replied slowly, before grinning at him. "Something that may mentally scar you for life."

There was a sweatdrop moment, which would have been better had there actually been a sweatdrop. Instead, he just stared at me for a few seconds before speaking.

"Right…I get the feeling I shouldn't ask what it is," he replied, moving his arm slightly- which was around my waist. Queue my blush and Deidara's grin.

"Do that again and I'll make it worse," I growled, attempting to copy the famous Uchiha glare. But it had no effect on him, probably from being around Itachi. But I don't think I've ever seen him glare… Well, he has glared at Tobi/ Madara.

"Of course," said Deidara, rolling his eyes.

"What? You don't think I can be evil?"

"That and you're not a ninja- you couldn't hurt me." I could have sworn there was arrogance in that last part.

"Don't forget- I said mentally, not physically," I pointed out, but it didn't seem to make any difference to him- so I pulled out my mobile and accessed fanfiction. I knew what I was looking for, and it wasn't long before I found it.

How do you mentally scar an S-ranked criminal? You show them a yaoi lemon of course!

So I handed the phone over to Deidara.

"What's this, hmm?"

"Just read it and you'll find out," I said with a grin.

The particular story I had shown him was an Itadei story- called 'Itadei, CUS I CAN' by Zancora123 (Disclaimer: As you may notice I do not own it). It was a brilliant story- though by the way Deidara was looking he didn't think so. So I quickly took the phone off it before he could explode it into a million tiny pieces- and I don't think any online shops do deliveries to the Narutoverse. Shame, because I really want a Mcflurry round about now- and something to protect me from the wrath of Deidara.

It would make me feel better if I didn't have to stand right next to him, and I tried to avoid looking at him- so I couldn't see what his expression was, though the next thing I know we had landed.

"We're here," Deidara said- in that kind of creepy-calm voice which I knew meant he was pissed, all my previous foster mums had this tone.

"Deidara…" I said quietly, as I slid off the bird. "Are you all right?"

He walked off towards the small town in the distance, and I ran after him- why did shinobi have to be so fast? Maybe the whole fanfic thing was a bit over the top, though why he had to go and take it like this was a bit too much.

I was seriously wondering whether he was a guy or not.

"Deidara! Can you wait up?"

Deidara halted, and as soon as I had caught up to him he pushed me against a tree- his hand tight around my throat and his visible eye glaring at me.

"Do you really believe that I like that Uchiha?" he growled dangerously, and it was then I realised that an Itadei story wasn't the best idea.

"No," I replied quietly. "Other fans do- I just read the stories."

There was a long silence, and my pulse rocketed as I realised that he could seriously hurt me if he wanted to- and as I realised how close we were together.

Apparently he had realised the same thing, because next thing I could feel his lips on mine.

Now, being as brilliant as I was, I froze in shock and surprise- and just as quickly as he had kissed me it was over. He looked at me with mixed emotions, removing his hand from my throat he turned around and started to walk slowly to Otoshiana (A/N: Otoshiana means trap).

"I don't like Uchiha," he said.

If I had been able to speak, I would have told him I could have guessed that- but unexpected kisses tend to make your brain temporarily melt.

So instead I walked after Deidara, finding it easier to keep up with his slow pace- though I made sure I walked behind him. I pulled out my phone and cancelled the internet to reveal my wallpaper- which was a chibi Deidara flying on a clay owl. I considered showing it to him, but the memory of the kiss prevented me from doing that- and a horrible wave of dizziness that washed over me.

Placing my phone back, I placed a hand against my forehead as I leant against the tree- just in time for another wave of dizziness to hit me.

"Alex?"

Deidara's voice sounded weird- like I was underwater or something and I'm pretty sure kisses don't make you feel like this. Unless you kissed that Batman baddy Ivy, but I'm not a lesbian- so no thank you.

It didn't take a genius to guess that I was going to pass out, so as I did I mentally rolled my eyes.

I just hoped Deidara caught me.

**-XxX-**

I don't know how, but I was suddenly in some weird grass field thing with floating crystal rectangles that made steps up high into the sky. I'm pretty sure this was in the third Pokémon movie- I just hoped Molly and Entei didn't turn up and ask for a battle.

But no, it being my weird dream/place/thing- a weird floating ball of light had to appear which was actually black light, not the normal light light you get.

"_You summoned me?" _questioned the light, even though the voice came from inside my head.

"Summoned? I just passed out," I replied, not the least bit worried about my unconscious adventure.

"_You kissed the criminal," _it replied, in way of answer.

"He kissed me," I replied, looking around to see if there was a way I could get out of this weirdness quickly.

"_His kiss awakened me- and now I must tell you not to fall in love with him, for it will lead to your death."_

I sighed, still not fazed by this- I often had weird dreams like this, which I was told I would die. Though none had ever involved a floaty ball of black light.

"Awakened you- who is 'you' exactly?"

"_I am Raise- your demon."_

Raise(Pronounced Rhy-seh)meant afterlife in Japanese, I think- which seemed like a cool name to have. Even if non-Japanese speaking people pronounced it the English way.

Wait… I had a demon? An unknown feeling rose in me, as well as that of fear- a demon would explain why I was so precious to Akatsuki. Especially if it was a tailed beast or something.

"Why do I have a demon?"

"_Your family wanted to make you into a weapon to use in their rebellion, and so they sealed me in you order to make you more powerful- which is why Madara now wants you."_

I let the information wash over me- I was a weapon… my family only wanted me to be a weapon…

And I had a demon in me.

As I got ready to pass out once again (It is apparently possible), I thought about this- but the memories were leaving my head.

"What's happening?" My voice sounded so distant.

"_You had a jutsu placed on you so you would forget anything I told you,"_

"Can't you break it?"

"_Not now."_

How Mary-Sueish am i?


	7. Chapter 7

I woke up to find myself in some kind of bedroom- so I'm guessing that Deidara took me to the inn. The problem is I have a feeling I should remember something- something really important.

"You're awake then."

I turned to see that Deidara was lying next to me, smiling- which I hoped meant the fanfic incident was over.

"You've known me for less than a week and already you're sleeping with me- that's a sign that this relationship won't last long," I said, grinning like the Cheshire cat- though I wasn't planning on disappearing.

He snorted before brushing a strand of hair out of my face, which made me blush and made Deidara laugh. So I smacked him, which only made him laugh more and made me pout.

After a while, we were silent again and I moved my head onto his shoulder, as placed his arm around my waist. Staring at the roof, I was able to concentrate on my other senses. Deidara's pulse had sped up and I could smell on him clay- or at least the scent of clay.

"Do you really think our relationship won't last long, hmm?" he questioned, and I felt myself blushing once again.

"What relationship? I wasn't aware we had one," I replied nervously. My own pulse had sped up even more- I might have a heart attack or something.

"So what was the kiss, hmm?"

I moved so I could look him in the eyes… er, eye. He seemed to be sad almost, and I found myself feeling guilty- but I hadn't done anything wrong, had I?

"It was… I don't know- but I didn't think it meant anything because you were angry about the fanfic thing," I replied quietly.

He didn't say anything, but placed his hand on my cheek and I shuddered as I felt his mouth hand lick me but made no movement. He sat up and I tensed up as he kissed me once again. But I soon relaxed and kissed him back, my arms wrapping around his neck.

That weird feeling was back, that awful feeling in my stomach- and mixed with the butterflies it was making me confused. But not as confused when I felt an icy cold hand touch my arm. I pulled back with surprise to look, but there was no one there.

"Are you all right, hmm?" asked Deidara, looking at me with concern.

"Something touched me- something really cold…" my voice trailed off as I noticed the mark on my right arm. Deidara noticed to and gently took my arm so he could look at it.

There was a handprint on my right arm, but more than that is was a burn and it was inhuman- it was kinda like what happened in the Ring. Except I don't remember watching any video or getting a warning about dieing in seven days.

There was now an awkward silence in the room, because neither of us had a clue as to how that got there. But I felt like I did know, and I felt like I had forgotten something.

"Maybe it's something to do with me," said Deidara. "You did blackout after the first kiss and now you have that… mark on your arm."

"It's probably just a coincidence," I replied, but I didn't believe that and he didn't seem to either. It seemed something didn't want us to be together- and not just because I was a year older than him.

"Maybe…" he began. "It would be better if we were just friends- I don't want you to get hurt because I'm too selfish to notice that this is hurting you."

My throat tightened- this has to be the shortest relationship I've ever been in. Known him for less than a week and we're already breaking up.

"You're not hurting me- at least not until you mentioned this," I replied. Then, with all the grace I could muster, I got up and left the room. Screw him; I could enjoy this place by myself.

Jesus- or Jashin, whichever suits you- I can't believe I'm getting so worked up about this. It's not like we'd known each other long enough to actually form bonds- I was just acting like a spoilt brat who got their favourite toy taken away. We'd been dating for less than an hour and I was already dumped- I bet that's enough to make anyone mad. I certainly don't remember any fanfictions about this kind of thing happening- though if it were one then Deidara would get back together with me. Yeah, no chance of that happening- though he did dump me because he cared… so maybe, it is possible.

Walking along the streets, I noticed how many young couples were about and felt my throat tighten. Damn, I wished there was someone else who had come along- even Hidan would be nice- just so I could spend some time with someone who wasn't likely to do this kind of thing.

I found myself wishing Itachi was here, it would be much nicer if he was- don't get me wrong, I didn't have any romantic feelings about him. It's just that I feel safer with him than with anyone else- a bit ironic isn't it?

Here's another irony- I'm thinking about Itachi when who should come along but his little brother. At least, I think that's an irony- I never was good at stuff like that.

Sasuke was with Kabuto, and they were both looking in my direction- which sent a chill down my spine. As for why- well it's kinda obvious, I do look like the person he hates most in the entirety of the universe.

Kabuto goes off god knows where, whilst Sasuke comes over to me- who was taller than me already. But he wasn't completely zombified like he was when Naruto first saw him after the Timeskip. In fact, he looked angry- and shocked, but mainly angry. This is Sasuke we are talking about.

"Who are you," he asked, looking down at me. I think there is a law somewhere saying shinobi have to be a certain height- everyone is taller than me!

"I'm Arashi," I replied, thinking of the first name that popped into me head- I hope it's actually a name. "And you are?"

"That is none of your business- but perhaps you could explain why you look like someone I know." The venom in his voice was quite clear- and I found myself backing away slightly.

"Maybe I just have one of those faces- I get that a lot," I replied nonchalantly, hoping my terrible lying skills wouldn't find their way into this 'conversation'.

"I don't believe you," he replied coldly.

Damn.

"In fact," he continued. "You're going to come with me- then we can find out who you really are."

Double damn.


	8. Chapter 8

Deidara paced up and down the room- she hadn't returned last night, so where was she? Surely his dumping her wasn't that bad- they hadn't known each other that long, and yet the horrible ache in his chest said otherwise.

"Alex," he whispered, as if she could hear her name. But even if she had been there she wouldn't have replied- he had hurt her.

He should tell Pein- but the leader's response wouldn't have been anywhere near reasonable- Alex was an important tool for him. That thought brought anger to him; she was not just a tool.

It was amazing how much she had affected him in the short time he had known her- and not just him, he could see some of the others were affected. Though it wasn't like they normally had time to interact with females.

There was no choice, he would have to search for her himself- maybe some of the townsfolk would know. A small place like this was bound to have some sort of gossip network.

So he quickly prepared himself to head out onto the streets, leaving the inn without a thought of paying- it wasn't like he wasn't coming back.

He searched the whole town. But he could find no sign of her- and it wasn't until he was approached that he found out where Alex had gone.

"Excuse me, sir?" asked a voice. Deidara turned to see an old couple approach him.

"What, hmm?" he asked impatiently, not wanting to waste time on idle chitchat.

"You've been looking a little lost- weren't you the one who came with that lovely young lady?" questioned the woman. Deidara's eyes widened with surprise.

"Do you know where she is, hmm?"

"Yes- she left town with a white-haired spectacled ma and a younger man who looked like could have been her brother."

Deidara didn't have to know what they looked like to guess who they were- Itachi's younger brother and Sasori's former underling.

There was no doubt about it- Orochimaru had his eyes on Alex.

**-XxX-**

The fear was back with me as Sasuke 'escorted' me through the darkened corridors of Orochimaru's lair- it was like a small imp clutching at my heart. Sasuke had once used pain to overrule fear, but I was disbelieving of that as his killer grip on my arm had no effect on the fear. Except perhaps making it ever so slightly worse.

"You found your sister then?" chuckled a voice, and I resisted the urge to hide as Orochimaru emerged from the shadows.

People say Orochimaru is Michael Jackson's anime clone- but I bet Michael Jackson never made you feel like you were facing a demon.

"What are you talking about?"

Sasuke's voice contained a barely suppressed anger- but also curiosity.

"This girl is Itachi's twin sister," Orochimaru replied, taking pleasure in our surprised looks.

I was really related to them? But that wasn't possible- it was just an idea out of a story, Itachi never had a twin! He was lying, he was lying just to get to me- but what was it doing to Sasuke?

"Your parents planned for her to be something special, but the Third and Fourth Hokage sent her away because of what she had become."

There was no way this was trued, and yet some part of me accepted this as the truth and that part was the part of forgotten memories.

"You're lying!" shouted Sasuke, before pulling his hand of my arm as though I was an unstable bomb. "They would never do that! And I never had a sister!"

Though we both somehow knew that this was true- me because of a feeling, and him because of childhood memories. But the truth didn't make us happy; like in fairy tales- it just caused more pain. Pain for the sadists to feed and nourish on.

Sasuke left, leaving Orochimaru and me in the cold, dark corridors of this endless maze. Though shock and disbelief overruled the fear, it remained.

Orochimaru walked over with that evil smirk on his face, and I found myself shrinking back as he reached up to stroke my cheek.

"Poor child, sent away from home because she was a little different," he said soothingly, but still with that smirk on his face. "And now you return to find your family is dead- apart from your murderous twin and hateful younger brother. I wonder what Itachi wii do when he finds out?"

I bit my lip until it bled, my family- my real family- was dead, they were all dead apart from my brothers and Madara. I was an unwelcome element in a disaster- my presence was unneeded. Just the fact that Itachi even has a twin changes everything.

Itachi.

Would he kill me know that he knew- because the way he had 'acted' around me gave me some indication that he had known. It was like he was trying to love me and avoid me all at once. Twins had strong bonds, remember? I wonder of he could sense I was in danger, trapped in a place with someone who might want my body for either his jutsu or Kabuto's experiments.

But luckily for me, Orochimaru was too happy revelling in the mixed emotions I was feeling to care about my future. As for the emotions- have you ever found out who your true family is and then discovered that you've known them all along, you've known their destruction and betrayals? If not you can't possibly imagine what it feels like for me, though I can tell you one thing- I think it's created more problems than it's solved.

My sense of time blurs, and I no longer have any idea about how much time has passed. One of Orochimaru's subordinates takes me to a room, and meals arrive at various times- but everything else is a blur. My head filled with so many questions, most without answers.

I lay on the bed when someone enters the room, and I snap out of my pathetic mope fest when I realise it's Sasuke. He doesn't say anything but climbs into the bed and lays next to me whilst I hold him like I used to hold Sam after days of being bullied because of his sexuality.

Neither of us say anything, but instead relish in this rare moment where we can be brother and sister without worrying about the world.


	9. Chapter 9

My sense of time was recovered; though apparently I was only like that for three days- to me it felt like three millennia. But that doesn't matter, because I might die soon anyway.

My nails dig deep into my neck as though trying to gouge out the mark which is causing all this pain, my whole body is in pain and as I grip my neck tightly I try not to pass out. I might not wake up again. A thought which brings no comfort to me as I lay on the cold, hard ground.

How long will this pain last? I might just kill myself to end this all- why did I follow Orochimaru; I should have known he was up to no good! But beating myself up over it wasn't going to do me an good- try not to think about the pain I told myself, a plan which often worked when I had my period. Pain is just a message- you can beat the message. But this was like having those cramps at their most painful time all around your body.

Okay, other things to think about… I wonder what the Akatsuki are doing right now? Has Deidara told them about my absence- please let him at least know where I am, I don't want to stay here! The pain is too much, I can't stay awake, there is no way I can stay awake!

So it once again I begin to black out, the pain fading with the light and as I close my eyes, I wonder if I'll wake up again.

**-XxX-**

Looking at my younger self, my first thought is- am I dead? The second is- I better not go through that whole avenger shit that Sasuke did.

But my younger self says nothing, and no vision of the house where my brothers lived appeared- it was just me and my childhood.

"_You summoned me?"_ questioned younger me, with a voice that wasn't even human- heck, it wasn't even female.

"Raise?" I question, the name coming to my tongue easier than I expected as the memories of our previous encounter came to me.

"_Yes, that is one of my names," _replied the demon. _"But you still haven't answered my question?"_

"But I didn't, I only remember passing out because of the pain."

"_You think you passed out?"_

"Am I dead?" I questioned, panic clear in my voice.

"_No."_

I could have sworn I heard a smug tone in his voice- damn demon.

"So where am I?"

"_The question you should be asking is who are you," _replied Raise.

I really didn't fancy doing mystical soul-searching- but then I realised what Raise really meant. Indeed, who was I? My name in the other world had been Alex Fisher, but who was I really? Was I really, as I had been told, a weapon? Just some tool for the Uchiha clan to use in their coup-de-etat?

But more importantly, who was Raise?

"_You know who I am- I have been mentioned in the manga as recently as within this year, and who I am explains why you are so important to Madara Uchiha."_

Okay, demon mind reader- but what did he mean he was mentioned? I don't remember anything about Raise being mentioned in the manga, I hadn't been able to even read the latest manga since I was here- even though we did have the computer.

Who was Raise?

**-XxX-**

"Where is Alex?" questioned Pein, as a pale Deidara entered the room.

"Orochimaru got her- I found out where he has her, but I didn't think it would be best for me to go in on my own," he replied, trying to look anywhere except at the leader.

"A wise move on your part, but what prompted this? You wouldn't have normally have had second thoughts about bursting in there. Perhaps you've begun to doubt your own art- or is it something else?"

There was a silence in which Deidara stared at the floor as though it were the most interesting thing on the floor.

"Take Itachi and Kisame with you- make sure you don't come back without her," Pein finally said.

Deidara nodded and walked over to the door,

"Don't fall in lover with her," said Pein. Deidara tensed. "It will only cause you pain."

Deidara nodded once again before leaving the room.

Pein stared momentarily at the door before turning away; Madara wasn't going to be happy that the key for his plan was in the wrong hands.

**-XxX-**

I was still trying to figure out who Raise was, but Raise had long since gone and I was standing on the dock where Sasuke had once stood as a child. But it was midnight and the reflection of the full moon filled up the surface of the calm water.

It was like looking into a mirror, except instead of showing me it was showing the moon. A moon which seemed so much more brighter in this world, so much more… alive.

Maybe now I was dead, but the feeling of the breeze on my arms said otherwise- I was still trapped in the visions of the curse mark. But it was nothing like what Sasuke had gone through, so maybe evil visions weren't a part of all curse mark events.

"_That's because I am protecting you from his poison."_

I jumped at the sound of Raise's voice, which seemed to come from the reflection of the moon this time- not from my head.

Maybe the moon held a clue about Raise, but the only demon associated with the moon was the Juubi- who was trapped in the stone prison which was the moon.

Or maybe it came from the water, or maybe I was just imagining all these things- demons are evil after all, and Raise hadn't been acting it.

It's just a shame I couldn't believe what I was saying.


	10. Chapter 10

I woke up to once again have the feeling of forgotten something important- and the feeling of the after-effects of being burned alive. Not that I would know… or anyone else would know. But it didn't make me feel better that I was alive, since once in a while there was the odd pulse of pain.

"Fuck you, Orochimaru," I growled under my breath. I had read somewhere that you should swear when you hurt yourself because it acts as a natural pain killer- or something like that. But let's just say swearing makes you feel better. Though it wasn't working for me, I bet killing Orochimaru would.

I snorted as the thought crossed my mind- me kill Orochimaru? That's about as likely as Sasuke forgetting this whole revenge thing and heading back to Konoha.

I cold feel the cold stone of the floor on the back of my neck, but there was no light so I couldn't tell where I was or if anyone was in here with me. Not that it mattered; they wouldn't help me anyway since I was just one of his experiments.

If this is what being a Mary-Sue is like then I'll happily go back to being the person I was before, because being kidnapped twice and bitten by a Snake-man is not exactly a fun adventure. I'd rather be at home talking to fictional characters on the TV, though the whole essay thing could just vanish.

Maybe things would be better if they hadn't found out about me- speaking of which, how had they found out about me? I'm pretty sure that the Hokage must have kept quiet about the whole 'The Uchiha clan turned one of their children into a monster' thing quiet- it wouldn't give them good press. That is if they had press- well, I'm pretty sure Tsunade had a newspaper once, which showed the unlucky lottery win.

Anyway, I wondered when I was going to get removed from this place- not that I could face Sasuke. I was trying to forget about the whole family thing- or at least make light of it. But seeing Sasuke wasn't helping- especially since he was back to treating me like a random person, a random person he hated. But I think he hates all random people.

Wiping by brow, I was half-surprised to find cold sweat on me face- nice. I quickly wiped my hands on my trousers but made no attempt to move or sit up- especially since I felt that every minute or so I was being electrocuted.

"Where are you Deidara?" I questioned quietly- surely he wasn't going to leave me with this paedophile. That is, if he knows I'm here- and if he feels like rescuing me, I mean Orochimaru is one of the Sannin after all. Itachi had said something about the sannin once, but I can't remember what he said- it was in the arc where we first see him and he is going to the inn where Naruto is.

He easily found Naruto, so maybe he could help Deidara find me- but what were the chances of Deidara asking Itachi for help, about as much chance as Orochimaru setting me free.

Speaking of which; I shielded my eyes from the light which flooded into the room as Orochimaru and Kabuto entered the room. Sure it was only candlelight, but when you've been trapped in the dark for a while it will hurt.

"Looks like she survived after all, isn't that nice?" chuckled Orochimaru. Though I seriously doubted he even knew the meaning of that word.

Unfortunately, being a non-ninja I lacked the braveness- or recklessness- that would have enabled me to say that out loud. I may be able to curse him behind his back, but to his face was another matter entirely.

"Should we prepare her for the next stage?" questioned Kabuto- Harry Potter's older brother.

"No, we don't know how dangerous it would be for her- too much chakra in her and she'll just tear herself apart."

Too much chakra? I didn't have any to begin with… did I? To be honest, I don't think I really want chakra- especially if that means that I 'tear myself apart' as Orochimaru put it. I'm guessing like what happened to the guy out of the Shippuuden movie who drank the chakra and eventually exploded.

Besides, it would take years to be able to do the basics- and I don't think that my lifespan stretches that far, even if Orochimaru wasn't going to give me too much chakra. It still didn't mean there wouldn't be other experiments done on me. A lovely thought.

"How do you feel, child?" questioned Orochimaru, and I felt myself get annoyed-I wasn't a kid!

"Thirsty," I replied, only realising the truth as I realised how raspy my voice was. Damn, it felt like I'd just walked through the Kalahari desert- or the Sahara, whichever is worse.

Kabuto held out a glass of water, and I slowly sat up as pain shot down my spine. But it didn't stop me as I drunk the water as though it was my last drink ever, which it might be if I didn't get out of here soon.

"We didn't put anything in it," said Kabuto as I glared at him- it was only him I hadn't been afraid of so far. Though I hadn't really considered him putting anything in it- but it would explain why it tasted awful.

"Don't worry child, we'll get you something nicer to drink and eat as soon as you complete a little test for us," said Orochimaru, and I felt myself tense. I didn't have to be a ninja to know that this 'test' wasn't going to be like anything I'd done before.

A though which was confirmed when Kabuto enclosed manacles around my wrists two separate chains for both hands.

"These are for your protection- and the protection of your friend," explained Kabuto, pushing his glasses up his nose in that evil way he does it.

What did he mean by friend? I was dying to ask him, but they both had left the room and I was left alone- or so I thought. I knew there was someone else in the room; I swear I could hear their breathing.

"So you're Orochimaru's new pet?" questioned a cruel voice, which sent shivers down my spine. "You don't look like much- this'll be easy."

Light flooded into the room from a grating in the roof- a small circular hole with metal bars crisscrossing. I was surprised to see that it was night outside, because I could see as clearly as though it were day- and I could see the person who stood in the shadows. He was just one of the many unknown people, and he dressed like the way they did after invading the Leaf.

"Don't count on it," I growled, and almost jumped- I hadn't meant to say that out loud. Hell, if he intended to kill be then he could easily do it. But I knew from experience that Orochimaru doesn't set these kinda tasks thinking his prize will fail.

I quickly dodged as the man lazily threw some senbon at me, but it was no big accomplishment as they wouldn't have hit me anyway.

"Chained up?" he questioned. "This'll be no fun; maybe I should remove those and make it fairer."

So he did indeed walk over and crouch beside me as he removed the chains- but that didn't mean anything to me as I could hear his pulse, and itched to bite through his skin and kill him. All I had to do was bite the jugular- but the sane part of me was fighting against the new feeling which was filling my body.

There was a burning feeling on my neck, and I knew the curse mark was spreading- but that didn't matter as my teeth changed into fangs and my eyes became those of demons.

"_You shouldn't have done that," _I hissed, and the mans eyes widened in surprise as my nails changed to claws and I swiped at his throat, chuckling as his blood poured out.

Several more men rushed into the room, and as a black energy formed around me the chain on my right hand burst open. They stood no chance against me now, and in seconds it was other.

As the horrible darkness faded, I remained frozen to the spot at the sight of carnage- had I done that? I couldn't have, I wasn't a killer. Was I? So many emotions hurtled around in me, and I threw up as tears poured out of my eyes.

I had killed them, I killed them all. I had killed people, I was a murderer- I was no better than any other god damn shinobi or criminal.

"Congratulations," chuckled Orochimaru as he entered the room. "You've finally lived up to your parents expectations."


	11. Chapter 11

They say after the first kill it gets easier, but in the month that I've been doing this it doesn't get any better. Neither does the chance of my rescue happening anytime soon- not that I really care anymore. Orochimaru puts me through these tests every day and I've started to get the hang of using the dark powers, but I learn no jutsu- I only fight like a beast… like a demon…

My wounds heal quickly, but not completely- so my hands are covered with scars where I have blocked weapons. When I say wounds, I mean the physical ones- the mental ones are still bleeding and this 'work' is only making them worse. I wondered whether this would turn me into some like Gaara or Sasuke, but I'm still the same old scared me- wishing I could go home and forget all this. But I know that will not happen; there is no way of me going home.

I've often considered escaping, but as soon as I work up the courage I stumble and lose the confidence I had slowly worked up. But it doesn't matter, right now I'm too exhausted to even blink- so my training is left for today.

I'm lying on my bed in a manner similar to a cat, my eyes closed and breathing only when I need to. The pain in my chest is too much, sometimes I consider ending it all now- but I am unable to move my limbs. Anyone could come up to me and try to kill me and I wouldn't be able to do a thing- they could come up to me and do anything and I couldn't stop them.

But no one comes. Orochimaru has forbid anyone from coming in my room, a severe punishment for those who try it has been layed down and so I remain where I am. Half awake, half asleep- unable to tell what is real and what isn't. I might die soon, that would be nice- I can't get to sleep at the moment, so death would be nice.

"Alex!"

That voice… sounded familiar… who is it? But I could have imagined it; I don't know what to do anymore. Maybe… maybe it's Kiyana and Callie, I'm probably late for school…But there is no school… not here…

"Wow, she looks terrible…"

Another voice… familiar?

I feel a hand on my arm, sending fresh waves of agony throughout my body and I moan in pain- but am unable to move my mouth to tell them to stop.

"We must get her back to the base immediately."

A third voice… also familiar… But that doesn't matter; I can still feel the pain of the person's hand- why don't they stop? They should know it hurts, they should know they aren't allowed in here.

"Alex- it's me, Deidara," said the first person. "I'm sorry about what I did, but don't worry- everything will get better from now."

I would have laughed if I could- get better? This wasn't some fairytale that was destined to have a happy ending- it was our lives, and they always end in death. Besides, these so-called happy endings are never truly the end; they just end there because the writer doesn't want to write what comes next. But why? Because it is unhappy- at least, that's what I've learned.

There is more pain as someone picks me up and moves me so I am no longer coiled up like a cat. Why won't they stop? I don't want to move, I want to die- I just want to die.

I gave in to the sleep that was pulling me, summoning me into its grasp.

**-XxX-**

"We're losing her!"

"We can't- the orders were we had to save her no matter what."

"It's not our problem- you were hired to sort her out."

"But it's nothing to do with us- she's lost the will to live."

"Alex! Don't die! You can't die!"

"Alex. Fight it, you can survive."

But… I don't want to survive… I just want to rest…

"Give her another dose of morphine!"

But… I don't feel any pain…I just feel tired…

"Her BP is falling!"

BP? What… is that?

"She's not gonna make it, she has severe internal injuries due to chakra overflow."

"Chakra overflow?"

"Too much chakra has flowed through her system and cause damage to the organs, but because it seems to have been done repeatedly her organs have been subjected to it daily."

"Is there anyway she could make it?"

"Well we'd need to seal away the chakra completely before we could begin to heal her wounds… but there's a problem… only a close relative would be able to give her the chakra which would heal her network since her own isn't up to it."

"Then use my chakra." 

"You're family?"

"She's my… twin…"

"Since when did you have a twin?"

Twin… I have a twin?... Who is it… who could it be?

"That doesn't matter right now- I will seal the chakra away now and you will immediately need to give her your chakra."

I felt something touch my stomach, which was followed by a sickening sensation which made me feel like my organs were being burned. But soon after came another sensation which soothed the burning and took away the pain.

But that didn't matter; I was going to sleep now… I could feel it tugging at me… so I accepted deaths cold hand.

"It's not working!"

"Alex! Alex no!"


	12. Chapter 12

_I looked at the black rusted gate before me, which hung limply on its broken hinges and creaked slightly as I touched it. Behind this gate was a gravel path which led up to the smouldering ruins of what I'm guessing was once a house._

"_Hello?" I called out. "Is anyone there?"_

_A raven croaked in the distance, and as I looked around to spot it I noticed something weird. The ground ended. It was like I was on an island floating in blackness, whilst a red moon floated in the sky- kinda like in Tsukuyomi. But everything else was in colour- normal colour that is._

"_Where am I?"_

_I shuffled over to the edge and peered over, but there was only darkness. It could have been solid ground or a gazillion metre drop and I wouldn't know. But I did know one thing- there was no way I was going over there. I wasn't scared- I hadn't been scared when I arrived here. All I felt was a kind of strange calmness- peace I think it was._

"_Can anyone help me?"_

_Remembering things was hard, I couldn't even remember my name- but it didn't matter, not here._

_A child's laugh sounded from inside the house, so I quickly turned around and ran back the short distance to the gate. I could see someone crouching in the ruins- but they hadn't been there before, had they?_

_Looking around, I noticed the walls around the ruins had been knocked down in one place- so I quickly ran up to the gap._

"_Hello?" I called quietly, and uncertainly- the calmness had left me and I was now filled with terror. "Who's there?"_

_There was a loud growling, and I turned my head slowly to see what was making the noise._

_Dogs. But no ordinary dog; they had leathery skin, glowing yellow eyes and two mouths full of needle sharp teeth- mouths directly on top of one another._

"_Good dogs," I said soothingly. "Nice doggies."_

_They bared their teeth at me and advanced, whilst I shuffled backwards, continuously looking backwards to make sure I didn't trip and give them an opening._

"_Nice doggies- don't hurt me."_

_I stumbled, cutting my hand on jutting metal rod as I fell. I tried to stop myself from falling, but it was too late- the dogs pounced._

_But… they didn't hurt me… Instead, they acted as if I was a long lost friend and began licking me as I stroked them nervously._

"_Good boys," I said. "Good, strange doggies."_

_I stinging pain in my left hand reminded me of the cut, and I looked at it to see there was no cut._

"_What the…"_

_The two dogs sat down and looked at me, one of them with a bit of blood hanging of its tongue._

"_Did you heal me?" I asked him, and was surprised when he nodded- in a very odd jerking motion._

_I got up and turned around to look at the ruins where the figure was still crouching, and I continued my journey- aware of the demonic dogs following me. I wondered why they hadn't attacked me- they had been growling after all._

"_That's simple," whispered a voice, and I heard myself scream at the figure that was standing before me. Once again I fell over, and I looked up at the figure whilst the dogs stood either side of me- but they didn't growl._

_The figure was of a bloody child's skeleton wearing a fairy outfit with strands of filthy blond hair hanging limply down._

"_Don't worry- I'm not here to hurt you," whispered the voice- a voice which sounded like a five yr old girl. "I hope Vein and Panic didn't hurt you."_

_Vein- like the demon out of the Demonata series. Panic- the imp out of Hercules. Two very suitable names for the dogs which sat either side of me- coldness radiating off them as heat would off a living person._

"_Where am I?" I asked my voice surprisingly calm._

"_You are in Excessum Mundus __**(A/N: Excessum means death and Mundus means world- 'tis Latin),**__" replied the girl. "I am Parvulus __**(A/N: Means child in Latin) **__the guardian of this place. Vein and Panic are my helpers- and the helpers of those touched by Death."_

"_I'm dead?" I asked, though I felt no panic at the thought._

"_Yes… and no… You are dead, but a force is keeping you attached to your body and so you cannot truly be dead. Which is why you are here."_

"_So this isn't where you go when you die?"_

_Laughter echoed around me._

"_I cannot tell you that."_

"_So… how do get back?" I questioned._

"_You are already going back."_

_I looked down and saw I was fading away like a distant memory- a sense of sorrow filled me, did I really want to leave? Vein and Panic whined and I stroked their heads sadly._

"_Goodbye," I whispered too them._

"_Don't say goodbye- for they are your helpers now, and they will go with you until you truly die."_

"_Wait! So you're saying I can still die?"_

"_Only when the force- the demon- lets you go."_

_Raise? It was Raise who was doing this._

**-XxX-**

As I drew in a breath, I understood why babies cried at birth- the air filled by lungs and expanded the unused organs. A hiss left my mouth as I exhaled, and I felt another pain as my heart started to beat again.

"Alex, hmm?"

The voice sounded so sad, so sad- I wanted to hug whoever had said that.

"Deidara, she's been for a year- she's not gonna come back now."

"Then why does Leader leave her here, hmm? And why does her body stay the same as it was back when she died?"

My head had cleared now, I remembered everything- so I've been dead for a year? Funny, it only felt like a few minutes.

"D-Deidara," I said with a sigh, my voice sounding hoarse. "Can you stop yelling- and while your at it get me a drink."


	13. Chapter 13

My eyes opened, and as they slowly focused I noticed Deidara was looking at me as though I was some kind of ghost- kinda ironic don't you think? I just hoped Vein and Panic hadn't arrived as well- that would be fun explaining.

The other person who had been in the room had gone, not as frozen as Deidara- he (It was definitely a boy- I'm thinking Kakuzu) had probably gone to tell Pein that I was back from the dead.

I experimentally moved my limbs before sitting up and rubbing my eyes, whilst Deidara slowly came over.

"I'm not gonna bite ya," I said with a frown- I felt like I'd left my fear back in Excessum Mundus- if that's what it was called. "Feel free to touch me- though leave the dissection till later."

Deidara was now standing next to me, so I reached out to touch his hand- and he flinched away. That hurt more than anything Orochimaru me through.

"You… you were dead…"

"Well if it makes you feel better I can go back to being dead."

I hoped everyone else wasn't going to react like this- though it would be funny to see Hidan like this.

"How long… did you know?"

That caught my attention.

"Know what?"

There was an unreadable expression on his face.

"Know that you were… _his _twin sister?"

I frowned- how had he found out? Then I remembered the voices I had heard when I was dying- Itachi's, Deidara's, Kisame's and a duo I had never heard before. Probably they were the quacks who had done all that shit to me- to put it in Hidan terms.

"Orochimaru told me- or rather, he told Sasuke he had found his sister," I replied thoughtfully- apparently a lot of my emotions had been left behind. I didn't feel the nervousness that I usually did when that topic was brought up.

Don't tell me he was holding the fact I was related to Itachi against me- that was just ignorant and harsh. I felt a bubble of anger well up inside of me- how could he do that? I had been dead for a whole freaking year and the first thing he does is have a go at me because I'm related to Itachi!

"If it's such a problem for you then how about you leave?" I hissed, and Deidara looked at me in shock. "Go on- you already said you didn't want to be with me- so now you can use this as an excuse why."

Deidara's shock quickly turned to anger, and the anger slipped out of me at his next words.

"I don't need your permission- besides, why the hell would I have wanted to go out with you in the first place? We haven't known each other long- you were just fooling yourself."

With those words, he turned around and left the room- just in time for Pein and Tobi to enter the room.

"Yay! Alex is back! Itachi will be happy now!"

"When is Itachi ever happy?" I questioned, and flinched at how harsh my voice had sounded.

"Is Alex alright? Did Deidara upset Alex?" Tobi tilted his head slightly.

"No- I'm fine," I replied, before sighing.

"It's good to have you back," said Pein. "Do you know what brought you back from the dead?"

I thought about Raise and all the riddles he had posed about who he truly was, the skeleton who had told me about his meddling- and the darkness which had made me kill.

"No," I replied quietly. "But I could tell you a bit about Excessum Mundus"

Pein said nothing for a moment, whilst Tobi scratched his head.

"Tobi has never heard of it."

So I proceeded to tell them about my adventures in that place- which only took long because I had to describe the place and… creatures in as much detail as possible. I just hoped Parvulus wouldn't kill me for telling them.

"A force?" Pein finally asked. "Did she tell you what it was?"

I shook my head, but looked Pein firmly in the eye so he hopefully wouldn't notice that I knew more than I was letting on. Keeping lies from the two most powerful men in Akatsuki wasn't the best idea in the world.

"Tobi believes Alex!"

I wondered if Madara actually meant that- or if he was trying to get Pein of the trail. It looked like Pein was thinking along the same lines.

"Well, then. We'd better leave so the others can see you- you have become surprisingly popular, even though you haven't known them all that long."

The way he said it, it made it sound like a bad thing- I don't mean _bad _bad, I mean as in disapproving bad. Jesus, he was turning into my father- which wasn't a good thing, considering my past.

But that didn't matter to me- they probably only wanted to see if I was really back from the dead. Besides, it's not like it was gonna make anything happen- well, considering my adventure with Orochimaru because of Deidara he might have a reason to feel that way.

Surprisingly, Sasori was the first person to come into the room- I thought he hated me, or at least just didn't care about me at all.

"It seems Deidara is upset- what did you do? I thought you two got along very well?"

"We did," I replied, in a tone that indicated I was not going to say anything more on the subject.

"Anyway, that's not why I came here- I came here to see how your new arm is working out."

New… arm? I looked at Sasori- who was still in Hiruko- and wondered what the puppet master was thinking. As I looked down at my arms, I noticed my left arm was now made out of wood- but appeared to have skin over the top.

"Why?"

There was no surprise in my voice, I felt like I had known for a while that my arm was gone.

"When the medics tried to fix you, they were unable to save your left arm because the damage to it was too great- so I was ordered to make you that puppet arm."

I moved the arm around experimentally, and touched it with my right hand- it felt cold beneath my fingertips, cold and odd since my left arm could not feel the touch. But that's what you get when you have puppet limbs- I bet it was weird for Sasori at first since his whole body is a puppet- except his heart.

"Thanks- I know you were ordered to, but thanks."

Sasori didn't say anything, but turned around and left the room- leaving me to try to find the emotions I should me feeling, but I couldn't. The only thing I felt was slightly empty- as though those emotions had gone completely. Was that the price for returning from the dead?

Time dragged by painfully slow before Itachi and Kisame entered the room, Kisame still grinning like the evil sharkman he was.

"Good to see you, kid," said Kisame with a laugh. "Did you enjoy the land of the dead?"

"It was rather small," I replied thoughtfully- leaving out the rather rude comment I wanted to add to the end.

"So why'd ya come back?"

"They didn't have any people to talk too- just a bloody skeleton and two demon dogs."

As me and Kisame chatted about mu being dead and other goings on, Itachi remained silent and showed no signs of caring- that hurt me, but not as much as Deidara.


	14. Chapter 14

Everything didn't go back to the way it was before straight away- it took me several days to get back to full health and for others (Not including Deidara or Itachi) to start treating me the way they had before, during which time I learned that it would soon be Christmas. In fact, today was Christmas, not that I expected it to matter to them- but Pein insisted that we should celebrate this in hopes that we would get along. But things didn't go quite the way he planned- but that didn't matter, because for me it promises to be a fun day.

"Alex! Are you up?"

Without waiting for an answer, Tobi burst into my room wearing a Santa hat. Which made me grin- it really made him look weird, I wonder if it annoyed Madara?

"Hi, Tobi. What's the rush?"

He may have really been the most evil person ever- but it was his Tobi disguise that I liked best.

"Tobi wanted to say thank you for his present- how did you know that was what Tobi wanted?"

"Don't know- lucky guess?"

In fact, Tobi and I had gone around the town searching for things to get- with Itachi keeping an eye on us. So thanks to that I had managed to get everyone a little something- not that they seemed to care, but I didn't mind.

In fact, I wondered what Itachi thought of his present? Tobi and I had banned him from the shop so we could make it a surprise for him.

"Tobi got Alex something!"

He held out a black velvet bag, and I took it with a sense of apprehension. But when I removed its contents I was shocked- it was a black choke necklace with a silver angel holding a sapphire teardrop. Also, on the black fabric were two silver shooting stars heading towards each other.

"Wow… Tobi this is fantastic!"

I jumped up and hugged Tobi tightly, who tensed slightly before hugging me back.

"Tobi heard Alex singing that song and one part stuck in Tobi's head so he had this necklace made especially for Alex!"

I blinked before grinning and singing the chorus to said song,

"Angels cry when stars collide  
And I can't eat and I can't breathe  
I wouldn't want it any other way."

The song was Angels cry by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus- a brilliant song, and I advise anyone who hasn't listened to it before to do so, now!

"Yeah, Tobi thought it was a really nice song so he got it- even though it was expensive. Don't tell Kakuzu- he'll kill Tobi!"

I laughed and walked over to the full length mirror to put it on- it was real silver and real sapphires, but I doubt Madara actually paid for it. He probably just had it made, went to pick it up and sucked the shop person into another dimension.

"I won't tell him- and thanks again, Tobi. It's really amazing."

Tobi yayed **(A/N: My own little word)** and left the room as quickly as he had entered- which was surprisingly fast, like a cheetah on a sugar rush.

"Didn't I tell you to stay away from him?"

I didn't jump at the sound of Itachi's voice- or when I could suddenly see his reflection behind mine in the mirror. It was a common fact now that whenever I saw Tobi, Itachi would appear soon after.

"I don't remember that," I replied innocently, stroking the angel's wing. "Besides, he's the one who won't stay away from me- why does it matter anyway?"

Itachi didn't answer, but instead just stared at the reflection of the necklace.

"Did he give you that?" he finally asked.

"Yes- is that a problem?"

Without my say-so, my voice had gained a cold quality to it. But I guess that's what you get when it's your sibling you're talking to.

"I was just wondering," he replied- still emotionless. But I noticed there was a trace of uneasiness about him- twin powers at work again.

"Did ya want something?"

"To say thank you for your gift, it was… nice."

"A pause? Does that mean you really don't like it, Itchy?"

He glared at me, whilst I whistled innocently- he hated that nickname, which was why I used it.

"If you keep calling me that, then I won't give you your present."

Itachi showed an Un-Uchiha related trait- surprise- when I suddenly turned around and hugged him tightly.

"I love my brother- he is so awesome!"

A smile flashed across his face, before he reached into his cloak and pulled out the present- which once again left me gob smacked.

"It's from Kisame and me, though it was mainly his idea," he explained.

The present, was the two katana I had spotted in that weapon shop so long ago, I pulled the blade out slightly so I could look at the reflective blade which mirrored my surprise. I put the blade back in before glomping Itachi- which surprisingly caught him off guard.

"This is really cool- thank you!"

Itachi smiled again- and this time it lasted a full second before vanishing again. Next time- I was going for two!

"Do I get a hug too?" asked Kisame as he entered the room- laughing when I glomped him as well.

"When did you get so tall?" I asked him, realising I was uber short compared to him.

"I've been this tall the whole time you've known me," he replied with a grin.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes- you've just never been this close to me."

I jumped back and stroked my imaginary beard, pretending to think about it.

"I don't know…"

"I think your sister got twelve doses of crazy when she came back."

"It's Christmas!" I declared. "You gotta learn to have fun on Christmas."

"If you say so- thanks for the gift by the way, it was very interesting."

"Is that code for you don't like it?" I questioned.

"No- anyway, we'd better get some breakfast since lunch isn't going to be until much later."

Apparently, Akatsuki hired local chefs to make the big meals- otherwise they just ate out. Also, it must be noted that the members had gone on various missions whilst I was dead, but had been recalled to celebrate Christmas-so don't blame Hidan. Though I had told Kakuzu it was a Christmas miracle that Hidan hadn't been complaining about celebrating another religions… thing, but I failed to mention that I had explained to Hidan about it also being referred to as Xmas thus making it unreligiony.

So as we walked down the hallway- soon joined by Tobi, I began singing The Very First Christmas by Spongebob Squarepants. Soon joined by Tobi, who I had taught the lyrics to in the hopes, he would annoy the shit out of Deidara- to once again put things in Hidan terms.

The only other people in the kitchen when we were arrived were Sasori and Hidan- who didn't look very happy. But then again, I don't recall ever seeing him happy.

"Your arm still working?" questioned Sasori.

"Yup- it feels a bit weird at the shoulder thought," I replied, though I doubted that had anything to do with Sasori's skills as my own… thing- I forgot what I meant to say.

"Woop-de-fucking-doo," snarled Hidan, and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"What's your problem?" asked Kisame.

"I need to make a fucking sacrifice, but fucking leader won't let me out of the building today!"

I nodded and once again stroked my imaginary beard.

"Can't you just kill the chefs when they're done making the food?" I questioned, all eyes now on me- eye in the case of Tobi.

"That… might work," said Hidan slowly- apparently my now coolness with killing still surprised everyone. Also, that and my ability to make good decisions now and then.

"Tobi thinks Alex has changed a lot," Tobi eventually said.

"But you didn't know me for long- for all you know I could've been this way before."

Not that I was- well, at least not the bloodthirsty demon-carrying Uchiha part of- not that I was bloodthirsty.

So we got breakfast in the form of instant ramen and hours passed as though this were just a regular day- apart from when Tobi and I were looking up Christmas songs on Youtube and placed up some very late- and random- Christmas decorations. That even included some mistletoe in the living room doorway- though we agreed you didn't have to kiss, since most people in the building were males.

Konan got into the Christmas spirit a lot easier than everyone else and we were soon chatting away about the gifts we'd received and given- and about boys being stupid and various other girly topics- except make-up, I hated that stuff.

It was soon lunch, and Hidan did indeed sacrifice the chefs afterwards- which made Kakuzu happy because he didn't have to pay them. The lunch was a proper Christmas lunch, but it wasn't very formal and people just sat wherever they felt like.

Konan, Tobi, Itachi and I were sitting in a mini circle on the living room floor- whilst Kerrang played Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace in the background.

"Is Christmas like this where Alex comes from?" questioned Tobi.

"No –cuz everyone is much more festive, and there's a lot of alcohol and everywhere is closed. Plus people complain about the X-Factor being the Christmas No.1, but now there are groups and BBC radio 1 is trying to make Surfin' Bird the Christmas No.1."

I don't think they really understood- although I had introduced them to the X-Factor (Which I hate) and Surfin' Bird (Which I love). But the festive part was easy to understand- most of Akatsuki acted like it was just another day, only some even involved themselves a bit.

"So what comes after Christmas?" asked Itachi.

"Tomorrow is Boxing Day… then there is New Years Eve and New Year's Day…. Them Valentines Day in February… Erm, Easter in April- I think- and Halloween on the last day of October… and Lighting of the Lights in my town."

"What is Alex's town called?"

"Ilfracombe," I replied. "It's a seaside town which gets a lot of tourists in the summer- which can be annoying at times cuz it makes it impossible to do anything."

To be honest, I didn't really miss Ilfracombe- it wasn't the best place in the world, but I guess it would be better than living in a city.

"Alex, hmm?"

I froze before turning to face Deidara, who looked like he'd be anywhere other than here.

"Yeah?" I questioned, tilting my head slightly as I tried to figure out why it was that he was acting that way. I know you're yelling at me- it's cuz he keeps acting like he hates you, but recently he had been acting quite civil.

"I was wondering… could I speak to you outside, hmm?"

I could feel Itachi's reluctance to let me go, but I ignored it- it wasn't like Deidara could kill me.

"Sure."

So we both left the room with everyone- and I do mean everyone- looking at us. When we got outside the room he shut the door and blushed slightly as he tried to figure out the right words to use.

"…Mistletoe…"

I heard him mumble, and I looked up to see the sprig of mistletoe which was stuck haphazardly to the door frame with blue tack.

I looked back down just in time for Deidara to kiss me. I blushed as I kissed back; wrapping my arms around his shoulder as the kiss became more passionate. One of his arms wrapped around my waist whilst the other became ensnared in my hair.

It seemed to go on for hours, but I doubted it lasted that long- when we broke apart we were both blushing madly and breathing heavily. We stared at each other for a bit before Deidara took a step back and coughed nervously.

"What… what I really wanted to say was thank you for the gift it was…"

His voice trailed off when he noticed the necklace I was wearing- the one Tobi gave me.

"W-who gave you that, hmm?"

"Tobi," I replied uncertainly, because Deidara seemed upset about something and before I had chance to question him about it he suddenly turned and left. Leaving me dazed and confused- what was up with him?

I felt something touch my leg, and I looked down to see a miniature clay fox trying to climb up my leg. I picked it up and observed it with amazement- the detail was amazing, it must have taken ages to make.

Around its neck was a black ribbon with blood red writing which read 'To Alex, from Deidara'. I had already known who had made it- I can't believe he remembered what my favourite animal was- this was brilliant. But why had he been upset?

"Deidara," I whispered into the empty corridor. "Thank you."


	15. Chapter 15

I stared down the corridors in the hope that Deidara would come back and give some kind of explanation as to why he acted like that- but he didn't, not that I was expecting him to. I'm guessing he didn't like the fact that Tobi had given me something which seemed to outclass his gift- but I thought his big ego wouldn't allow him to think that anything was better than his art. Besides, I liked the fox more than the necklace, because he had spent so much time working on the tiny fox which lay sleeping on my hand- if they can sleep.

The sound of laughter came from the living room, snapping me out of my thoughts- but there was no way I could go back in the living room now. So I placed the fox in my jacket pocket and headed back to my room- Deidara wouldn't want to see me anyway. But guilt gnawed at my insides- I couldn't just let him think I didn't like his present. So after a short mental argument I decided to go after Deidara and tell him the truth.

Of course, after a couple of minutes I realised the flaw in my plan- I had no idea where Deidara's room was. Actually, I couldn't be sure I even knew he was in his room- for all I know he could have flown off on one of his clay birds. So I decided to wing it, and walked along each corridor in the hopes that I would eventually find him. But the only person I found was Tobi, who suddenly appeared in front of me.

"What are you doing here?" I questioned Tobi, but a shudder went through me when I realised that wasn't who it was.

"Poor little girl, what are you doing wondering around this building by yourself?" Madara mocked in a patronising tone. "Someone might take advantage of this."

I backed away slightly, the dark aura from Madara sending bad messages to my brain. He was an enemy; I had to get away from him. But my feet were frozen, I couldn't move from that spot.

"What do you want?" I growled, feeling that itching pain in my mouth which meant my teeth were changing to become fangs- only this time I didn't resist.

"So you can use your demons power," Madara remarked, watching me as my eyes took on a blood red hue. "And I assume you know who I am?"

"Madara Uchiha," I hissed, now my fingernails were like claws.

"Yes- and I find it a little nasty that you and the demon I am working so hard to free are working against me, but I expect the Juubi has his reasons. But why you would rebel against your own family is a mystery."

The latter part of his mini speech was drowning in sarcasm-but it was the bit before that caught my attention.

"Juubi?"

"Yes, the demon in you- or rather, the spirit of the demon- is that of the Juubi. Of course, your parents didn't know that, but it makes everything much simpler now that I have the key."

"Key?"

Now I was confused-he hadn't mentioned anything about a key in the manga.

"The spirit of the Juubi must be either sealed within the body of an Uchiha or one with the rinnegan in order to be able to use them to summon the Juubi back- did you think just getting the nine-tailed beasts in one place would work? We needed a catalyst- something which could be used to fuse those tailed beasts back together whilst also containing the mind of the Juubi so the body in the moon could have the connection it requires to be able to pull itself back together. Of course, I'm sure you've figured out that the catalyst is you- it took us a long time to find you, eighteen years, but now we have you."

Black chakra swirled around my body, and I pounced at Madara-only to go straight through him.

"You bastard," I hissed, my voice changed by the transformation. "You're gonna die."

"Try all you want- you have no Shinobi training, you can't possibly beat me."

I grinned wickedly, my hands forming katas at a near impossible speed.

"You forgot about my time with that snake bastard," I hissed.

'Fire Style: Phoenix Flower jutsu'

The miniature fire balls shot towards him, and Madara easily dodged them with his transportation jutsu. But I hadn't been intending to hit him- the black chakra which formed my left hand had shot towards him and was now wrapping itself throughout Madara's body- all I had to do was wait for him to reform.

"What's going on over here?"

I turned my head around quickly and fired a ball of concentrated chakra from my mouth which exploded as soon as it hit the wall. Unfortunately my angles had been slightly wrong, so I was hit by the blast as well and was forced to remove the chakra from Madara to stop myself from burning.

When the explosion faded, I noticed Madara had gone and I was left in the ruins of the corridor as footsteps approached.

"No," I hissed. "I can't lose him!"

I sniffed at the air, and smelt his chakra somewhere outside the building. He was going somewhere- but where? I quickly fired another chakra ball at the window at the end of the corridor, quickly darting past the debris as I ran on all fours to the window. Sniffing around, I noted that his scent was outside the village now.

The chakra on by back quickly reformed until it was a pair of giant wings, not made for flying- but for gliding. I jumped out of the window, spreading the wings out as far as they would go as I easily glided across the village, occasionally banking so I could catch a thermal and rise up higher to stop myself getting grounded too soon.

Landing outside the village, I easily reformed my chakra before running – on all fours- after Madara, whose speed I could easily match by sending chakra to my hands and feet. I had no idea where I was heading; I just knew I had to go after Madara.

But why? Said the rational part of my brain. Why is he letting you detect his chakra so easily? It's a trap- go back to the building!

Why? Replied the darker side? So I can spend the remainder of my life trapped with a girl who can't even see love when it's staring her in the face.

That was the Juubi's spirit, the one who was making her do so much evil.

Two other people had joined Madara- one who seemed to have no chakra, but they were no matter to her as Madara had stopped. I was gaining. Forcing myself to move faster, I ran on until I had entered the clearing where the three people were.

I knew all three of them- Madara standing in the tree with his Tobi disguise back on, Kakashi and Gai looking at me with a mixture of shock and fear. I had one tail in this from, but my chakra levels were equal to much more than Naruto's one tail form, though the curse mark which I only had just realised was forming across my skin was making me feel like I was on fire. But there was so much power.

Madara vanished, and before I could go after him, Gai used leaf hurricane against me to knock me into the tree. But I retaliated my whipping my tail around so it knocked him away as I landed neatly on the tree, staring Kakashi in the eye. Kakashi used his Sharingan to try and knock me out, but before he could I fired a chakra ball at him- knocking both him and Gai away.

"Calm down," said Gai. "We're your friends."

He even held up his hands to prove it, but I wasn't going to just let them harm me.

"I have no friends," I hissed, watching Kakashi out of the corner of my eyes as he made his way towards me. "And why should I trust someone I have never met before?"

"We're going to take you home," said Kakashi quietly, and as my head whipped around to look at him he used his Sharingan to knock me out.


	16. Chapter 16

Waking up in a hospital is never a good experience for me- when I was a toddler I used to have a really abusive father and spent most of my time with him in a hospital whilst he sued different companies for the accidents that their 'carelessness' had caused. That was until he was caught on CCTV and I was taken from his care and placed back in the dumping grounds. So when I woke up, it was like I had woken up from a nightmare. I pulled myself upright and looked around with a sense of hesitation- how had I got here? Perhaps the whole Naruto world 'adventure' had been a dream- though when the person beside the bed spoke that hope evaporated instantly.

"Don't worry- we aren't going to harm you," said the person soothingly.

"Really? I find that hard to believe since I've been kidnapped plenty and hurt both emotionally and physically," I hissed. Don't get me wrong, Kakashi was my favourite character- but I was really annoyed and I had to vent my anger somehow.

Kakashi had covered his Sharingan, but that didn't make me feel any less agitated- what were they going to do with me now?

"What do you mean by that?"

I sighed before giving him an edited version of the events- and by that I mean I deleted the me being friendly with Akatsuki and Sasuke, and the whole Madara thing as well. So by the end of it, he looked pretty shocked- but him being Kakashi meant he soon had that bored look on his face again- not that I could see his face.

"Happy now?" I questioned, by voice still riddled with anger. Madara must have been leading me towards them- but why would he do that? Wasn't I the master key to his pet project?

Kakashi placed his hand on mine and I looked at him as I tried to decipher what he was thinking. But his eye gave nothing away, and curiosity overcame anger as silence prevailed. Maybe he was just trying to give a bit of comfort, but that wasn't going to work with me.

"I don't suppose any amount of comfort is going to help you," he finally said- as if reading my mind. "But maybe we can help you a different way."

I frowned- what was he getting at? But before I could ask him, by sensitive hearing- thanks to Juubi- picked up the sound of footsteps heading towards the door- my door. My head snapped around like a hunting dog, whilst Kakashi removed his hand from mine just as the door opened to reveal two people- and a pig.

"She really does look like Itachi- something which a few of the villagers won't like," said Tsunade as though she was commenting about the colour of the wall. "So what's your name?"

"Alex," I replied, my voice laced with mixed emotions.

"Alex? Not a name I've ever come across before, but I'm sure that won't matter while you stay here."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked. Shizune looked frightened whilst Tsunade glared at me.

"You shouldn't be rude to the Hokage- besides, hasn't Kakashi told you about the deal?"

"I was just getting round to that," Kakashi said, sending me a warning look. Keep your mouth shut, it said. "You are going to placed under the protection of Konoha as along as you keep the terms which we will present to you."

It wasn't so much a deal as any other deal I had- they would keep me here locked up nice and tight and I would never be able to go anywhere else at all.

"We'll explain the terms to you after you've had time to recover," Tsunade said to me. "Kakashi- I need to see you immediately, Shizune fetch Sakura and tell her she will attend to our new guest"

Kakashi and Shizune looked confused- perhaps they hadn't been expecting Sakura, but I was thinking she might do that since she was on Naruto's team so they might want us to get along for some weird reason.

The three people left the room, and it wasn't long before Sakura came into the room looking a little nervous. But she froze when she saw me- maybe it's because I reminded her of someone.

"Are you related to Sasuke?" she asked.

Of course, she hadn't met Itachi yet.

I didn't reply, I just stared at her the way a cat might stare at a mouse- trust me, the evil emotions were easy to wield. Of course, Sakura was slightly nervous- but being her she just hid that my acting tough.

"Listen you," she said angrily, hands on hips. "You shouldn't be rude to the ones who saved your life!"

The corner of my lips upturned slightly.

"Saved me?" I repeated. "You're just bringing me to another type of prison."

I bared my teeth as they changed to fangs, and Sakura backed away looking like she was facing a demon. A feral growl left my throat, but after that I let my teeth change back- I didn't want to harm her, just scare her.

"C-can I get you anything?" she asked, after recovering over her shock.

"Some water would be nice," I replied nonchalantly.

Kakashi came back in the room and looked at Sakura with surprise- she was still shaking, and regarded me as though I was going to growl again.

"What's going on here?" he asked.

"Don't worry- I'm all bark and no bite," I told Sakura with a yawn. "Well, sorta."

Kakashi frowned; he seemed to have figured out what had occurred.

"I hope you're not planning on going wild on us- we wouldn't want to have to lock you away in the prison."

I snorted, before grinning- my teeth becoming fangs once again.

"Don't worry- I'll behave," I replied, before letting my teeth return to normal.

Kakashi was looking at me gravely, whilst Sakura had left the room as soon as she had seen my fangs a second time.

"You don't seem to be a vicious person," he said.

"Well considering who I'm related to it's kinda hard not to be," I said, but there was no anger in my voice- just sadness. "I think the Juubi's changing me, I feel different- it feels like something is missing."

"Is that so?" he questioned, sitting back down on his chair. "Well maybe we can find that something while you're here- the terms to our deal are that you will have at least one ANBU tailing you at all times and that you will never the village with our knowing or our say so."

Guards I had expected, banned from leaving I ad expected- but I thought they wouldn't let me out full stop.

"Sounds a bit tedious," I huffed.

"It doesn't matter wha you find it- do you agree or don't you?"

I looked him squarely in the face before replying.


	17. Chapter 17

I looked around the empty apartment with no expression on my face- Kakashi stood next to me as some random people began to move furniture into the building. Of course I had said yet- I would have been locked up in a prison if I had said no, at least this way I got a bit of freedom. Although the two ANBU whose chakra I could smell made me wonder if it would have been better to be in a prison. I was uncomfortable with the idea of people watching me- especially people wearing masks, thanks to when I watched The Strangers.

"I hoe you're planning on apologising to Sakura," Kakashi said, completely out of the blue.

"Why?" I replied stiffly. "So I can have some egotistical brain-dead brat as my friend? No bloody thanks."

"Are you having girl problems?" he asked quietly, and I frowned as I tried to figure out what he meant. When it hit me- I hit him.

"No," I hissed through my teeth, whilst Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "And don't mention that! Ever!"

"Why? It's completely natural-"

"So is sex but you don't go around talking about that- it's a private matter!"

"Now you're just overreacting."

"I am not!"

The people who were bringing the stuff in gave us questioning glances as we continued our quiet argument- that was until I slapped him in the face and walked over to the window and stared out at the village, spotting the ANBU who was perched on the opposite building- he gave me a quick wave before moving away. Though I thought he was supposed to be inconspicuous- or maybe he just wanted to let me know that I was in safe hands. Turning to look at Kakashi, who was rubbing his cheek, I snorted- safe? Yeah right, I wasn't safe anywhere in this world.

Kakashi spotted me looking at him and came over, looking out the window as he looked around. He tried to make it look casual- but I wasn't fooled, he wasn't exactly trying hard.

"Are all ANBU as stupid as these?" I questioned him.

"What do you mean- the ANBU are the best in this village." He looked at me with a frown. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"Yeah- I can smell both of their chakra, one's on this roof and one's on the building opposite. Though that one wasn't worried about hiding," I replied casually. I had only just realised it was like what Akamaru could do- since he could sniff out the level of an enemies chakra. Though I could just smell the chakra itself- it had a weird scent, something I'd never smelt before (obviously) but it was a nice smell. Also, each chakra had its own unique scent, and like of you wore perfume it would leave that smell behind.

"Is that how you followed the masked person?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied, and he looked shocked. "What?"

"He had hid his chakra though- I couldn't sense his chakra at all."

"If you say so- put he was leaving a chakra scent trail that was easier to follow than the yellow brick road," I replied nonchalantly, though secretly I was pleased I could do this- maybe they would take me on missions because of this. Of course, Kakashi didn't get what I was saying, so I explained to him what I had been thinking earlier- excluding the Akamaru part of course.

"Is that so?"

"I think so- but I'm not an expert like you." The Latter part was oozing with sarcasm- but apparently he doesn't know what sarcasm is.

"That's nice of you," he said, with the weird eye-smile thing he does- and I was half-tempted to hit him on the head. I would have as well- if it wasn't for the fact it would probably make me feel shorter. Kakashi was 181cm tall according to Narutopedia- I was about 158cm tall, shorter than most- if not all- the Naruto characters in Shippuuden. I was up to about Kakashi's shoulder and about eye height with Deidara- if not a little bit shorter.

They stood silently at the window as the last of the furniture was brought in and the people left the room quietly, closing the door behind them. The sun was beginning to set, something I had seen plenty of times before but never truly appreciated until after I had returned from the dead.

"So why don't you like Sakura?" Kakashi asked. But I ignored him, instead focusing on the village as it was lit up in a whole new colour- the colour of blood. I quickly turned my head around, but the light was in the apartment and had coated the walls in its colour- like the room I had been in with Orochimaru. It was if the sun was mocking me, reminding me of things best left forgotten.

"Sakura," I began. "Is extremely annoying- I don't answer a question and she snaps at me, having a go at me like I'd cursed at her. Something I wouldn't mind doing right now in fact."

The fangs were here once again, and it turned to Kakashi with a grin on my face.

"You can't stop me," I purred. "For it is my soul in the girl- which means from the time she first summoned me we have been bonding- so soon I'll have control of her body."

My eyes had taken on the blood red hue of the sunset, and my fingernails formed claws.

Kakashi pulled out a kunai and held it in front of him as he backed away to a safe distance.

"Poor little girl," I cooed. "So far from home- brought into a world where all she can feel is pain and suffering."

"Let go of the girl," warned Kakashi, though he knew he stood no chance against the demon.

"Or what?" I laughed. "What could you do Kakashi? Maybe you can dispel me by killing the girl- but then again, if you kill her I'll just bring her back- and you can't extract me because that would also kill her since I'm joined with her soul and she doesn't have the will to survive."

"Maybe I don't care about what happens to the girl- maybe I would rather defend the lives of every other person in this world than let myself get worked up over one insignificant girl." Kakashi's voice was cold, but I knew he was bluffing- I could smell those human emotions on him. Pitiful, he was.

"Then when she wakes up- tell her the truth," I hissed. "If you don't care about her then kill her- but you do remember your promise, don't you?"

Kakashi's eye narrowed,

"How do you know about that?"

I let out a laugh, flexing my claws before appearing behind Kakashi with such speed that even his pathetic Sharingan couldn't have spotted it.

"I know all your secrets," I purred in his ear, whilst grinning as he tensed. "What's the matter? Never been this close to a girl before."

I laughed again, licking his ear and smirking in satisfaction as he shivered.

"It must be hard for you," I purred. "Trying to stop yourself forming these bonds- when you know it's futile. You may be a shinobi- but you're also human, and being human means that all those pathetic little emotions like love come along with it."

Kakashi was unable to move, the words and the closeness of the girl- even if it wasn't her speaking was getting to him. A seductive purr left my throat, and I rested my head against his arm, stroking him with my right hand whilst my left hand circled his back.

"Do you like this?" I murmured, right into his ear. "Or do you want me to go a little further?"

Before he could stop me, I pulled down his mask and kissed him furiously, pushing him back against the wall whilst he tried to gain control over his body- his body which had been weakened by the emotions that he tried so hard to dispel. He was having some kind of internal battle, which ended with one of his fists hitting me in the gut- making me jump back before he could hit again, trying to get some air into my lungs.

"You're not that bad looking- for a human," I purred before control was broken and I slipped into unconsciousness.

Kakashi caught the girl before she collapsed, making sure he pulled his mask up as he watched her eyes open- he hoped he wouldn't have to face that demon again, but part of him liked the attention the demon had given him.

My eyes were their normal icy blue hue and I watched suspiciously as Kakashi sighed in relief.

"What are doing? What happened?"

A sad look crossed his face before he calmly replied,

"Nothing."


	18. Chapter 18

I looked at Kakashi with a frown on my face, there was definitely something wrong- he just wouldn't tell. He seemed… awkward- I mean he looked like this was on awkward moment. I didn't think his holding me would make him that awkward- he did read those porn books after all.

"I don't believe you," I told him firmly, trying to stand up. But a pang of pain hit me in my stomach and I grabbed Kakashi's arm to stop myself from falling over. He tensed noticeably, and I opened my mouth to question me- but he interrupted me.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked, his concern showing- funny, I didn't think he liked me.

"I feel as if I got hit by rhino wearing a jetpack, or two- possibly fifty in his case."

Kakashi looked at me like I was crazy, and I flashed him a grin before feeling the nausea. I quickly ran into the bathroom into time to throw up- I just hoped it hadn't got in my hair. As if on queue, Kakashi pulled my hair back as I threw up again- I had a feeling this was somehow Kakashi's fault.

"Is this part of the rhino feeling?" he asked casually.

"No- this is part of the let's-annoy-Alex-by-making-her-throw-up-because-she-doesn't-like-throwing up feeling," I replied, the smell of my vomit making me throw up again.

"I don't think anyone likes throwing up."

"Yeah but for me it's triple annoying since the smell makes me throw up- hence why I keep throwing up."

"I see…" There was a bit of guilt in his voice, and I decided to question him about it- after finishing throwing up. This actually took about five minutes or so- for which most of the time I didn't have anything to throw up. So after cleaning my mouth the first thing I said was,

"Food!"

"You want to eat it?"

"Yuck! That's gross!" I hit him repeatedly on the arm. "That's disgusting- don't ever mention that again!"

"As you wish," he said, giving a mock bow. "So what do you want to eat?"

I frowned as I thought about it- I didn't have any food, although I did have the money given to me by Pein- so I could buy myself the essentials. But it was a lot and so I hadn't spent much of it- so that money was in the pouch on my leg which should have contained shuriken (I didn't trust Kakuzu).

"Food," I finally replied with a grin, creating another sweat drop moment.

"Are you bipolar or something?" he asked, and I blinked in surprise.

"Huh? No, why'd you ask?"

"Because earlier you were all grumpy and mean and now you're acting all hyper and crazy."

"Well Itachi seems to have no emotions so I must have got a double dose- just like he got a double dose of height," I replied sadly. "I don't like being short."

Kakashi smiled again and I glared at him.

"The first thing we should do is buy some food- you do have money don't you?"

"A bit," I replied hesitantly, hand instinctively grasping my pouch. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, but made no attempt to look in there.

"Well then we'd better go," he said.

"We?"

"Yup- I'll be your guardian whilst you're here."

"I'm nineteen!" I whined, "I don't need a guardian."

"Well most nineteen yr olds aren't as important as you- just think of me as a bodyguard."

"I don't need a bodyguard!" I snapped.

"So I noticed," he replied quietly, raising a hand to his face. This action made me suspicious, but before I could question him he had already dragged me out of the bathroom and out of the apartment.

"Come on- no time to waste," he chided- like he was my dad or something. Maybe I could adopt him as my dad- but if he kept dragging me around then it would be time for me to use the drastic fangirl power of nicknames.

"Are you planning on letting me walk at all?" I questioned him.

He looked at me but didn't release my arm- he was looking at me gravely and I wondered if I looked like I was dying. I mean, I had already been dead once.

"Do you know everything about your past?" he asked me hesitantly, as we emerged onto the streets. I thought carefully before replying,

"I don't think so –every time I feel like I know the truth someone springs another thing on me."

"So you don't know about the promise?" he asked, and I looked at him with a frown.

"What promise?"

"It's nothing," he replied, dragging me into a shop. Picking up a basket and loading it with different foods as I tried to work out what was going on in his head- what had happened?

"Are you going to act like this all the time?" I asked him, yanking my arm out of his grasp. "Because to be honest it's annoying me and it's making me feel nervous."

Kakashi looked at me sadly.

"There's that bipolar thing again."

"Stop changing the subject," I said coldly. "Tell me the truth."

We stared at each other, trying to see who would break first- it was Kakashi, who with a sigh turned away.

"I'll tell you when we get back," he replied.

"Promise?"

"Promise."


	19. Chapter 19

Kakashi sat opposite me on the sofa, whilst I stared at him relentlessly. He wasn't going to get out of this, he knew about my past and he was going to tell me.

"Well how do I start?" he said, more to himself than me as he ran a hand through his silver hair. "Perhaps I'll start from the beginning- the very beginning."

I made no move to interrupt, so he continued.

"I suppose this all started after I went on a mission to retrieve some sort of scroll for Fugaku Uchiha- your father. He had said it was something of extreme importance to him and needed to be found before Mikoto- your mum- gave birth. She was four months pregnant when we left- and he arrived back just before she went into labour."

"It took you that long?" I questioned, frowning as I leant forwards with an unmasked interest.

"The scroll had been lost for centuries- we eventually found it in the Hidden Snow village. Of course, we were in the middle of the Third Shinobi world war when this tool place so we had to take our time getting past enemy lines."

"How old were you?"

"I was nine at the time- a Chuunin," he replied.

"Nine?" I asked in amazement. "They send shinobi out that young?"

"It was different," he replied cautiously. "Anyway, when we had finally returned the scroll we gave it to Fugaku who ordered us to stay put so he could talk to use afterwards. Many hours later it was Mikoto who spoke to us, the nurse calling us in. She was holding both you and Itachi- but we could sense there was something unusual about us. Mikoto told us that Fugaku had done something to you in an attempt to make you into a weapon for future use, she made us promise that we would look after you no matter what."

"Why would he do that to me?" I asked quietly.

"Later sources revealed the Uchiha clan were arranging a coup-de-etat and then the reason why you were changed became clear. Fugaku was attempting to use you not only to gain control of Konoha- but of the other villages as well. He knew he was sacrificing his daughter by turning her into a monster. Fortunately by then you were gone- we had informed the Hokage shortly after your birth and you had been sent away using a theoretical jutsu."

"What if it had killed me?" I asked, tears welling up in my eyes.

"I don't think anyone would have cared," he replied truthfully, looking a little awkward.

"So no one cared about me? I was just some experiment gone wrong." Bitterness had crept into my voice, and Kakashi sighed unhappily.

"That's not true- your mother cared about you."

"Then why didn't she stop them sending me away?"

"She… she thought it would be best if you weren't here."

"But I am here now," I replied coldly. "So much for your big plan- what are you going to do now? Send me away again?"

I stiffened in surprise as Kakashi hugged me tightly, his warm breath tingling on my neck as he pressed his face against the side of my head.

"You are much too beautiful to be sent away again," he whispered, sending shivers down my spine. I'll admit I was blushing- but I was also suspicious of his actions. "Just behave yourself and there won't be a reason to send you away."

"K-Kakashi- what's up with you?" I flinched at my stuttering- I sounded like Hinata!

"I did tell you I'd explain what was up," he replied, still holding me close- it felt wrong, but that didn't matter to me as I listened too what he said. By which at the end my face was burning.

"I did what?"

He smiled and placed his face back on the side of my head,

"That was the Juubi- not you doing it," he replied quietly. "Which is why I can't help doing this to you- you are so beautiful."

I was all tensed up, but none of that seemed to matter to Kakashi. This is wrong, screamed my mind, you like Deidara! Not this guy! Screw Deidara, said a different part of my mind, he hurt you- he doesn't like you! He gave you the gift, insisted the other half.

However, my mental arguing halted when Kakashi kissed me roughly on the lips, my gasp of surprise allowing for him to slip his tongue into my mouth. I froze temporarily before pushing him away, blushing at that and at how hot he looked.

"What are you doing?" I snapped, wiping my mouth. "What the hell?"

Kakashi looked hurt, but he quickly placed on his mask – literally and figuratively.

"I'm sorry about that," he replied. "The seduction attempt by the Juubi must have affected me more than I thought."

I glared at him but made no reply- he was probably right, just the Juubi trying to get me away from Deidara again. That damn demon was really getting on my nerves- especially with the possessions and such. Plus I thought the Juubi was a boy? Oh well, he might just be gay if he wants to kiss Kakashi.

"So what happens now?" I asked with a sigh, making sure to keep an eye on Kakashi –Juubi or not I didn't trust him… sorta.

"Well- I suppose training would be the best thing to do."

"Training?"

"You need to learn chakra control, which should hopefully help you in preventing Juubi's chakra from springing up whenever you get angry. Plus I want to see what your skills are like and how you learn so I can devise a training procedure that will work for you."

"Training…"

"Yes, we've already established that."

"Why?"

Kakashi looked at me like I was stupid.

"Prevent you from being used by the Juubi."

"And pervs?"

I smirked as I proceeded to make him blush- this was gonna be fun.


	20. Chapter 20

Thank God I was not in the Land of Snow right now- cause even here I was freezing my ass off. I think Kakashi wanted me to suffer- why else would you make someone train in the cold cruel outdoors? He'd been doing this for the past month and despite it being January it still felt the middle of December- but my progress was good so I was happy, even if it did mean I was frozen to the ground when I was finished.

"Can't we give today a miss?" I whined, jumping up and down on the spot. "I'm gonna catch pneumonia and die before this day's out!"

Unfortunately Kakashi wasn't very sympathetic about my near-deathness.

"Even without the help of clones you have been able to master these techniques in a short time- it's easy to tell you're related to Itachi and Sasuke."

"Bite me," was my reply- well actually it was more like 'b-b-b-i-i-te-te-te m-m-m-m-me'. I swear Kakashi is secretly an evil criminal- he is happy making me suffer the harshness of the weather.

"Today you will be learning how to unlock you're Sharingan without the help of the demon."

If I hadn't already been frozen- I would have frozen.

"Say what?"

"Didn't you know? When you change into your demon form your Sharingan awakens," he replied- I swear with a hint of smugness.

"Good for you- how the hell do we do that?"

I shuddered as a forewarning was sent to me- damn it, why did I have to ask? This is such a drag!

"You need to be put under a lot of danger- which is why you'll be trying to survive against me."

"SAY WHAT?"

Dude, I may have been good- but there was no freaking way I could stand up against Kakashi, he was gonna freaking pulverise me!

"What."

I glared at him.

"That is a most zill way to die!" I growled.

"Zill?"

"Ya! It's brilliant turned into braziliant shortened to zill," I replied in one breath- not a good thing to do in the cold.

There was a short silence before he threw a kunai at me- which I was surprisingly able to dodge (I'm not slow- just frozen). OF course, quick movements when frozen equals pain- and a lot of it. So I cussed like a sailor- thank you Hidan for teaching me these lovely new words- and jumped up into the tree. Before dodging again as more kunai were thrown at me.

You know they say no rest for the wicked? I think it was a mistranslation, I think it really was no rest for the random people who end up in the Narutoverse. Honestly, I know Naruto fans have always wanted to be shinobi and have uber lots of power which would make them Mary-Sues, but I recommend it not! Most of the time I felt I was going to die- but of course Juubi would bring me back in a year or so- maybe less since he had practice.

I jumped as a whole bunch of shuriken embedded themselves in the trees around me- one just missing my throat.

"You need to stay focused," said Kakashi, throwing more shuriken- which I blocked with my senbon before running away again.

Yes. I had senbon. I just loved them and they were a little reminder of our gender-confused friend Haku. May he rest in peace- at least until Kabuto brings him and Zabuza back with Reanimation.

Unfortunately, my running and hiding technique wasn't working- so I decided to use a special jutsu I had been saving up for this moment. Said jutsu was created because I knew the stuff from the manga- and let's just say there was a lot of clones involved, and no Kakashi.

I channelled my fire chakra to my left hand and let it gather whilst I hid behind a tree- Kakashi just missing me as he use lightning blade. I just thanked the lord that speed was part of my useful abilities.

Remembering what both Jiraiya and Kakashi had told Naruto, I shaped the chakra until I had a small fiery ball of doom in my hand, AKA the fire Rasengan- I'll think of a better name later.

If you want to know something, this jutsu is very devastating and it burned the crap out of my hand so I had to use it quickly or risk the loss of my hand- who cares if I kill Kakashi by accident?

Kakashi was preparing another lightning blade when I shot at him, using my high speed to get close and hit him with my awesome move- unfortunately he was faster so a tree got the full force, disintegrating as the force of the move shot forward like the flames of hell.

Yeah… I just destroyed a huge area of the woods, which is now on fire… Greenpeace aren't gonna like me for this…

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of my problems cause in my surprise I had forgotten about Kakashi- who immediately roundhouse kicked me. So I now lay in a pile of extremely hot ashes with an extremely badly burned left hand- Sasori would kill me when he found out what I've done. I just hope there's a good puppeteer around here who can make fireproof arms which act as normal arms so I can send chakra through them. I'm just glad I couldn't feel the pain my real arm would've felt- in fact, it was only because I had the puppet arm that it worked, and trying it with my right arm was painful because of the concentrated fieriness.

"Nice to see you've managed to destroy half the forest," commented Kakashi –though he didn't seem that bothered really. I think he has issues- seriously.

"Nice to see you like beating up girls," I snapped, lying on the ground- in pain. "Care to save my back from being intensely burned- because it's your fault I'm lying here in pain."

Kakashi didn't help me though- in fact he did the opposite, stepping on me to prevent me from getting up. Of course that didn't make me feel any better.

"You need to awaken your Sharingan," he said, in way of explanation.

"I got that already- but why do I need to? Give me a reason for awakening something normally that I don't need. I don't care what awesome powers the Sharingan has, I'm not putting up with this pain to gain power I don't need!"

Apparently that thought hadn't crossed his mind- but I don't think that mattered to him, he was just training me to make me stronger.

That's when it hit- that's when I realised what was really going on.

"You're trying to turn me into a powerful weapon for Konoha to use," I growled, feeling my demon self stirring. "You're just trying to make me stronger so you can use me against Konoha's enemies."

Kakashi neither confirmed nor denied this.

Once again I changed into my demon form- but this time with two tails and a lot more power.


	21. Chapter 21

"You are going to pay, Kakashi," I shouted, my tails swishing as I waited for the ANBU to break cover and assist Kakashi, but I couldn't smell their chakra nearby- they must have gone to warn Tsunade. This was good- because I wanted to focus all of my attention on making the lying bastard pay.

"You're going to kill the girl if you keep this up," Kakashi commented coldly. "The time we found her first she had massive damage to her chakra network, and the time after that she had damage."

"Oh dear Kakashi," I laughed. "You know who the Juubi is- so you should know about the little pieces of me, especially since you are so familiar with one of them."

Kakashi frowned before his eyes widened- his Sharingan eye swirling as it attempted to hypnotise me.

"It's not going to work," I purred. "And as for the damage I'm sure you've realised that my healing capacities are beyond that of Kyuubi's capacity."

To prove it to him, I turned around to show him that the burns on by back were gone leaving only a few singed holes in my top and the blackened left hand which was proving difficult to move- but only by a little.

Kakashi took my exposed back as a signal to attack, and ran at me with a kunai aimed to kill. I made no move to stop him and he embedded the kunai deep in my back, hitting my heart and one of my lungs.

"My turn," I said with a grin. I quickly fell forward and kicked backwards in the style of a donkey, hitting him in his solar plexus and knocking him backwards. Swivelling around, I took a deep breath;

'Wind Style: Air Bullet'

I opened my mouth and the air bullet shot towards him, just missing him as he jumped out of the way and headed back towards the surviving trees. I fired a few more air bullets- a skill known by Ichibi before trying a different approach.

You see, all the things the Bijuu can do is a result of what Juubi can do and since my awesomeness Sharinganyness in demon form meant I could copy people's jutsus I was totally awesome- not unbeatable, I'm still pretty sure that all of Akatsuki could kick my perfectly hot ass into next century- especially since my aiming was crap.

Kakashi quickly formed some handsigns- a lot of handsigns, and soon the water from the lake beside him shot towards me in the shape of a dragon. Wait- since when was there a lake?

I stood my ground and let the water dragon hit me, my black chakra evaporating most of the water- but the force of the attack knocking me backwards. Shaking my head, I looked up in time to see something head towards me at high speed- with a shock I realised it was Gai. I quickly sent chakra to my feet before leaping out of the way. The fire Rasengan must have attracted everyone's attention- crap, this was gonna end bad.

Gai did that weird grin of his, and I half-expected it to ping like in the anime.

"Give it up- you are no match for us."

Of course, by that time Kakashi was standing next to him,

"Let your control of the girl go- you don't need to do this."

I sneered at him, waving my two tails around.

"Why? So you can make the girl a weapon for your use? She was better off with Akatsuki- at least there she wasn't in any danger."

Of course, now they were confused- because although they didn't really no much about Akatsuki, they did know they were the bad guys.

"Looks like we'll just have to take her down," said Gai. "Even with the Juubi's soul in her she doesn't have enough power to take us down."

"Power she has plenty of actually," corrected Kakashi, and both viewed the destroyed forest out of the corner of her eye.

"That was an accident," I laughed. "The girl's chakra control is unstable- she used too much chakra in that move. It's just good luck that I gave her my chakra to use instead- she would have died if it wasn't for me."

"But you could've brought her back."

"That's not all I can bring back."

With a laugh I launched my 'different approach'. Vein and Panic appeared either side of me, growling in a way which only dead demon dogs with two mouths each can do. I was happy to see shocked looks on both of the two clowns' faces.

"Enjoy," I purred, as the two demons attacked the shinobi giving me chance to escape.

I dashed away on all fours, making sure I was far away before sniffing around- they weren't coming, though ANBU were approaching. I had to get back to the Akatsuki lair soon.

I channelled all of my chakra to my four limbs as I used the speed that had got me to Konoha to get me away from it. It had taken me about three hours or so to get here, so with a little help I could make the return journey even faster.

It actually took me longer to get there- about three and a half hours in total. But when I finally entered the Akatsuki hideout, no one was there. The black chakra faded, leaving a confused me as to how I had arrived here.

"You came back then? **That's a surprise."**

I jumped as Zetsu emerged from the floor, not seeming bothered at all that I was back.

"Where's everyone?" I asked him.

"Pein's in his office, **everyone else is on missions. **Except Konan, **but she's not here at the moment."**

I nodded, a thousand questions plaguing my mind.

"What does everyone think happened?" I asked Zetsu.

"Hmm? Madara told them Konoha ANBU attacked and took you away; he claims he followed you until ANBU killed you. **Yeah, so pretty much everyone thinks your dead, though Itachi knows the truth since it was him you attacked."**

I felt a twinge of guilt about that, but by the sounds of it he go away- it was Deidara I was truly concerned about. Did he believe that I was dead? I just hoped he wouldn't do anything rash.

"I should see Pein," I said, more to myself than Zetsu.

So with that I headed up to Pein's 'office' as Zetsu had called it, though I thought it was really just a boring old room- gotta love boring old rooms.

But when I entered said room, it was not Pein there.

"Hello again, Miss Uchiha."

Alright, who put James Bond on while I was gone?


	22. Chapter 22

Madara sat in Pein's swivelly chair with super-furry black cat on his lap.

I kid you not.

"What the hell are you doing?" I snapped, looking braver than I felt. "And what's with the cat?"

"A little welcome back gift after our misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding? You let Konoha capture me!"

I could feel Madara's gaze on me from beneath the orange mask which so many fans had come to love. Though his new mask was gay- seriously, I just hope it is actually black and white cuz if that mask is orange as well I'm gonna kill him.

"Let's not let the past get between us," he said, standing up and walking around the desk to me. "I just want to be your friend."

I snorted in disbelief, eyeing the cat he was handing me carefully.

"Am I really expected to believe that?"

Madara ruffled my hair slightly.

"Do you believe everything you read?" he asked, making me tense up slightly. "Perhaps you should hurry up and name your cat?"

"How about I name it insanity- after you!"

Madara glare at me- I could feel his resisting the urge to kill me. Even though Juubi would just bring me back- and then I would unleash Insanity on it. Yes, I was actually going to name the cat Insanity.

"How about I kill you and make sure you stay dead permanently," he growled.

He wasn't the only one who growled; I growled as well - instinct. Of course Madara wasn't scared by them, I think- it was hard to tell because of the supposedly lollipop-tasting mask.

"But you wouldn't- because you need the Juubi's soul." 

"What makes you say that?" mused Madara. "Perhaps I don't need the soul- only the body. You seem to forget what I actually plan to do."

Let's see; capture all nine tailed beasts, become host of newly-resurrected Juubi, project mangekyou Sharingan on moon and make infinite Tsukuyomi which will let him control every living thing on the planet… okay, so what was he going on about?

"Your precious manga may tell you what I say- but it hasn't told you about what I think, so you may think you know everything but you so obviously don't. After all, you weren't in the manga were you? So how do you think that has affected everything?"

I thought about what he had said, but it wasn't like I had done any major changes, right? I mean, no one had died or anything… although my presence has been noted in this place as a major force, I thought, since everyone wants to use me for what I had been created for.

"Why don't you just tell me?" I asked, stroking Insanity.

Madara laughed,

"Do you really think I'm going to tell you? This isn't some fictional tale where the bad guy spills all his plans and the good guy is able to use them against him. Besides- the lines between good and evil are blurred here, don't you agree?"

"Maybe so- but it's quite clear what side you're on!"

Madara sighed dramatically,

"You do like to annoy people- don't you? It's hard to believe you're related to me."

"Maybe so- but a child is influenced by their environment, so you can blame the other world for this."

"Or I could just destroy it."

There was a long silence, whilst I tried to figure out whether he actually meant it or he was just trying to blackmail me.

"You couldn't do that," I finally replied, though my voice lacked confidence.

"Wanna bet?" he hissed. "You'd better behave yourself- because even if you don't think I can destroy your world. I can still go back there and kill someone close to you."

He had a point- not that I was particularly close to any of my friends, I just didn't want that guilt adding to my already precariously balanced guilt pile.

"Maybe for now _I'll _behave- but Juubi is a different matter."

With that I made a dramatic exit, which is hard to do when there were a million questions bombarding my brain- many about a certain blond bomber.

All of the mad dashing and nature-destroying jutsu had left me exhausted, but bizarrely I only felt it now after arguing with Madara. So I went back to my room with Insanity, who was such a lazy puffball because he was already asleep. Dumping him by the window, I immediately collapsed in my bed and fell asleep.

**-XxX-**

Someone was stroking my cheek, so in retaliation I threw the pillow at them. Then realised I was no longer comfy so I needed to open my eyes and retrieve the pillow. But the person who I threw it at put it back and laughed,

"How many times are you going to do that, hmm?"

I opened my eyes and found myself face to face with Deidara, who had decided to lie next to me. Evidently it had been him touching me- he'd better be thankful I didn't do anything drastic.

"Every time you wake me up," I replied before hugging him tightly. "I missed you- I really missed you."

I felt him tense before he hugged me back.

"Same here- but I knew you weren't dead. You're too amazing to die."

I felt myself blushing,

"And you're weird."

He pulled back with a snort before kissing me lightly.

"Is that all I am, hmm?"

"I'm sure there's more- but I don't hold for the fluffy stuff."

He pretended to think before kissing me longer and harder, and it only took me a second to respond.

"Is that fluffy stuff?" he asked after pulling away.

"Maybe- I'm not sure, we might have to test further."

We kissed again, this time much more passionately. His tongue lashed across my lip and I allowed him in without a moment's hesitation.

I just hoped we weren't interrupted.

When we pulled apart, he asked again.

"Do you have the answer to your question?"

"This one definitely wasn't fluffy, but I've found out there is some fluffy I can stand for."

"What's that, hmm?"

I smiled and rested my head on his shoulder,

"You being my pillow whilst I sleep."

I could feel him laughing as I fell asleep again, but I knew this momentary happiness would not keep the wolves at bay forever.

I was gonna have to do something about Madara- but first I needed to confront my twin about something.


	23. Chapter 23

Waking up next to Deidara was nice, even if his hand-mouths were biting me- sometimes I wonder if they have a life of their own. So I moved his hands and cursed quietly, looking at the various bite marks on my waist- there were some on my neck I bet. This was gonna make talking to Itachi difficult- he would probably murder Deidara even though we hadn't done anything.

Slipping out of bed, I quickly went over to the wardrobe to change- if this were some kind of romantic story Deidara would have woken up when I was standing in my undergarments, but he didn't. Once I was fully dressed again I snuck out of the room and hoped Itachi was back- unfortunately our twin abilities didn't let me know that.

Also, they failed to warn me that Itachi was right behind me… yeah, lots of training and I still suck…

"What are those?"

I literally jumped a foot in the air, and turned to face Itachi blushing like mad.

"Nothing," I replied a little too quickly, making Itachi narrow his eyes.

"Then why is Deidara in your room?"

My face was burning up so bad it rivalled Death Valley as the hottest place on earth.

"Sleeping," I replied, then quickly amended. "We didn't do anything- honestly!"

"Those marks beg to differ."

"Well those marks can shut up."

A small smile appeared on his face before he hugged me tightly.

"You really know how to make me worry," he said. "I'm glad Madara didn't harm you."

"No he did the opposite- he gave a cat," I said absentmindedly.

"He did what?"

I laughed at the expression on his face.

"He gave me a cat- I called the cat Insanity and god knows where that furball is now."

Itachi raised an eyebrow and I laughed again before kissing him on the cheek.

"Emotions don't suit you," I said, then tilted my head as I noticed he was touching his cheek.

"Why did you do that?"

"What? Do you ninjas not have sibling love in this world? In mah world it is quite normal for a sister to kiss her siblings on the cheek."

"You mean that world," Itachi said, and it was my turn to raise an eyebrow. "This is your world."

"Sometimes I wonder," I sighed sadly.

There was a long awkward silence. Queue the crickets, tumbleweed and coyote howling in the distance.

"You still haven't explained what those marks are."

"Let's just say there is a reason hands aren't supposed to have mouths on," I said, and quickly amended again. "He was asleep just so you know- though I think his hands have minds of their own."

Itachi narrowed his eyes.

"Do you really think I'm going to let you go out with Deidara?"

"I could go out with Hidan instead," I said teasingly.

Me: 1 Itachi: 0

"Don't even think about it," he said- quite seriously. I think he might have actually believed me…

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure,"

"You know the truth about me… don't you?"

"Madara told me."

I switched my gaze to the floor,

"How does it make you feel about your- I mean, our parents?"

Itachi didn't say anything, so I turned around with a sigh and headed to the kitchen. Of course he wasn't going to answer- why had I expected him to? Well actually that's a lie, I had been expecting that- and don't start yapping on about how I shouldn't have done it if I knew that's how it would end. I was curious okay- and don't even think about saying curiosity killed the cat.

In this case though it appeared Hidan killed the cat- note to self, make that new saying.

"Hidan! What the hell are you doing with my cat?"

Hidan glared at me and dropped Insanity, who ambled over to me as though nothing had happened.

"Why the fuck do you have a fucking hairball?"

"Why do you have to swear all the time?"

I would have sworn in that sentence if it hadn't been for the fact Itachi was so close. He hated me swearing- sometimes he was more like a parent than a brother, not that he showed it.

"She has permission to keep the cat," said Itachi. "And nice to know you don't care about her."

Queue more glaring. But I don't see why Itachi is bothered- his first question was 'what are those' so he can talk. Actually, no one said they missed me as the first thing they said… yeah, that was so grammatically confusing.

Note to self: Work on grammar.

"Well fucking excuse me," snapped Hidan.

"We will," I said cheekily, which of course confused Hidan.

"What the fuck are you on?"

I looked down,

"The floor- a very dirty floor from the looks of things."

I only did it because Itachi was there- if he wasn't then I would have been deader than a dinosaur.

Hidan glared once again- seriously, I think that is the only normal expression he has.

"You are so fucking dead."

Of course, Itachi had to choose that moment to leave- maybe because he knows Hidan isn't allowed to kill me.

But does Hidan know that?

**A/N: Just so you know, this chapter might be the last update for a while- or the next one. The reason being I can only write these stories on the schools computers and it is the Christmas holidays at the end of this week. So Merry Christmas for then! **


	24. Chapter 24

So where was I? Oh yeah, about to be killed by Hidan because of inability to hold my tongue but only when I have protection. You may think I'm a coward- but look who I'm up against? He's an immortal swearing master of everything smexy.

Note to self: Don't. Ever. Tell. Deidara.

"You know," sneered Hidan. "I'm glad I chose not to go on that fucking mission- because now I can fucking sacrifice you to Jashin."

"Can't I at least write up my will first?" I questioned.

"Will?"

He looked confused- hadn't all of his time watching horror movies taught him anything about will? And surely they have wills here? Stupid ninjas being so damn clueless- or maybe that was just Hidan.

"Yeah – you know the final will and testimony of such and such. Doesn't your religion do those?" I asked. If there was anything fanfics had taught me- showing interest in the Church of Jashin AKA Jashinism, saves lives. See? That's what they should teach you at school- not Pythagoras's and Meiosis, but how to survive when facing Hidan!

"No," replied Hidan with a snort. "Are you fucking stupid or something?"

"I don't know anything about your religion!" I protested, backing away as he walked up to me. Another thing the fanfictions got right- he is an immortal womanizer. I just hoped that if Deidara saw this and went to take his wrath out on Hidan then I would be well out of the way of any explosions.

I was blushing now- and before you boo me, you must know that before all this Hidan was my favourite Akatsuki member, followed by Itachi and then Deidara. This made another thing on my list of 'things not to tell Deidara'.

"How about I teach you," said Hidan with a grin, purposely leaning over to get close to my face. Oh yeah, I was now backed up against a wall- proof that inanimate objects are evil, though it was Hidan's arm preventing me from running outta here. "And while were at it why don't you dump Deidara?"

I was about to protest when something came to mind- Hidan hadn't sworn in that whole sentence… thing. I was probably in a genjutsu or something… so, how do you break genjutsu?

Thankfully I didn't have to figure out as next thing I now we were back at the point where Hidan threatened to kill me- except Itachi and Tobi were both there.

'_Pay attention girl- I won't help you next time.' _That was obviously Raise- or Juubi, whichever you preferred.

"Is Alex alright?" questioned Tobi, tilting his head slightly.

"Yeah," I replied quietly. "Just doing a little thinking."

Hidan snorted,

"Don't fucking hurt yourself."

Can you guess what happened next? More glaring! A shiny penny for whoever guessed right!

Nah," I replied. "I'll leave that to you."

Yeah… I never learn… But you do- so I'm sure I don't have to tell you what Hidan did next.

"Why is Alex fighting Hidan?" questioned Tobi.

"This isn't fucking fighting- I'd show you what a fucking fight was if Alex wasn't being a coward."

Now it was my time to glare,

"Haven't you ever learnt that 'hell hath no fury like a woman's wrath'?" I questioned the Immortal Smex God.

I'm glad nobody here can read minds- or I would be in some really deep trouble.

"Bring it fucking on!" said Hidan with that creepy grin on his face.

"Alex I'm sure you know better than to pick on the weak," said Itachi, and I think the world stopped then.

Was that an attempt at humour?

Apparently Hidan and Tobi were thinking along the same lines because we all stared at him in disbelief.

"We are going to pretend you never said that," I declared, for my wish is law- unlike Pein, whose wish is… commandment? I dunno… But if anyone asks that wasn't an attempt at humour.

"It isn't up to you if she can or can't fucking fight!"

Queue more glaring- I swear men do nothing but glare at each other, seriously- what's wrong with a good old-fashioned grudge match?

"Tobi agrees with Itachi- Hidan shouldn't pick on girls."

Of course, that got him on no ones good side.

"Stop being so damn sexist!" Hidan and I yelled at him. I swear if he wasn't Madara I would have so kicked his ass into the next century.

"Alex," Itachi warned, though whether it was about my cussing or threatening Madara I had no idea. Besides, does damn even class as a cuss word?

Of course, thankfully Hidan was no longer my problem- Sasori was.

"What did you do to that arm?" asked Sasori, not looking very happy.

Of course, apparently no one else had noticed the state my left hand was in- and Sasori didn't seemed bothered that I wasn't dead. It's hard to feel appreciated with a bunch of S-ranked criminals. Speaking of which, Zetsu had said only Pein was here- he is such a liar! I'm so gonna get a weed hacker on him!

**A/N: Enjoy this chapter as a Christmas present! Sorry if it's rather pointless ^-^'**


	25. Chapter 25

I waited nervously whilst Sasori attached the new arm. He seemed… tense, if that's even possible for him. Not that he'd explain if I asked him, since he was that kind of person, err, puppet.

"There, it's done now," he said, no change to his tone. "I hope you aren't planning on destroying this one anytime soon."

I blushed nervously, being eternally uncomfortable in the puppet masters presence.

"Sorry about that," I replied, my gaze shifting from him to the door as I thought about what evil things could be lurking out there.

"Hidan's gone," Sasori said unexpectedly.

"What?"

"Hidan and Kakuzu have gone on a mission."

"I thought Kakuzu was on a bounty hunt?"

"He came back."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, he reminded me of my old French teacher. Instead I thanked Sasori and left the room, only to be confronted by Deidara.

"There you are!" he said wit a grin. "Where have you been, hmm?"

I laughed at the latter part and kissed him on the cheek,

"Getting my arm fixed," I replied. "It's not like I've been gone forever."

"Yeah well anything can happen knowing you," he replied, pulling me into a hug. "You do have a habit of disappearing."

I didn't have a comeback for that, so I just stuck my tongue out at him,

"It's nice to see you love me so much."

"I do love you," replied Deidara, before kissing me lightly on the lips. "I love you more than anything."

I felt my breath catch in my throat. Deidara had just said those three little words. Twice. All comebacks died in my throat, including the one about art.

"I love you too."

I kissed him passionately, moving my hands around his neck before looking at him wickedly.

"Though no as much as chocolate."

He snorted before tickling me into submission,

"Are you sure about that, hmm?" he questioned me whilst we both laughed.

"Don't tickle me!" I laughed. "Don't! I surrender!"

Yeah… I'm not very good when it comes to tickling- I'd rather surrender the whole world than be tickled.

"Nice to see you're having fun."

Deidara and I sprang to attention at the sound of Pein's voice. "I have another mission for you and Sasori." The pierced zombie guy said to Deidara, whilst I wondered if I should confront said person about the whole Madara- James Bond issue. I mean, for all I know he could have known nothing about it- or everything.

"And you and I will be having a little chat in the meantime," Pein said to me. Well, that answers that question.

So Deidara retreated into Sasori's room in order to tell him the good news whilst I followed Pein as he led me back to the scene of the crime. Along the way I spotted Zetsu, so I glared at him for his lies- though he just seemed to find it funny.

Evil follower of Dr Uchiha.

Hang on- if he's the bad guy then does that make me the smexy babe and Deidara James Bond? How come I have to be the bimbo who dates the car wrecker? I demand respect!

"It seems that you and Madara are having trouble communicating," he said unexpectedly.

"Trouble communicating? Are you, like, a Shrink now?"

Like? I just said the dreaded word! And to Pein nonetheless- he is so gonna kill me.

"What you must understand Alex is that your survival depends on the choices you make- and making an enemy of him will end with your sudden death."

"But… he's going to kill me anyway, isn't he? Plus I don't do the dieing permanently thing."

Pein turned to look at me, and the fear I felt when I first saw him came rushing back.

"Nobody is truly immortal," he said flatly. "There are ways to kill you permanently. Surely your demon told you that?"

I tried to remember,

"I think so."

"Then you will understand that if you continue with this attitude then you will be killed- and manipulating the members isn't going to help."

I stared in surprise,

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about- messing with Deidara's mind so he thinks he's in love with you. Do you really believe that someone would come to be in love with you after only a short time? This isn't one of your fairy tale worlds where love at first sight exists- this is the real world were chaos rules and love and peace comes last."

Tears came to my eyes,

"I'm not messing with his mind."

"Yes, you are."

I huffed up angrily before walking over to the door,

"Don't you fight for the peace?" I asked him, before leaving and slamming the door behind me.

Manipulating? How on earth was I manipulating him? I couldn't manipulate my cat to fetch the mail for me!

Though Pein did get one thing right- there are no fairy tale endings.


	26. Chapter 26

So where was I? Sulking in my room like some bratty kid who had their favourite toy taken away? … Yes actually- though I wasn't sulking, I was laying on my bed with Insanity. Insanity had decided to take a nap on my stomach, so I was being squished by a fat, furry poofball.

"You're lucky," I told Insanity, stroking him behind the ear. "You don't have to deal with all this chaos. But seriously, do you think I'm manipulating people? I don't even know if that's possible for me- and Raise won't answer."

"_That's because you don't call me by my proper name- you insist on calling me this."_

"That's because it was what you originally told me to call you- therefore I shall call you it."

"_Sulk much?"_

"Oh, shut up."

One of the downsides of having a demon- or rather a demon soul- they won't stop nagging you, and you can't run away from them- you can't even block them out.

"_No duh, genius."_

"You know you are starting to sound like a teenager."

"Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness," said a slightly sympathetic voice.

I turned my head to see Konan enter the room, quietly closing the door behind her.

"Hello, haven't seen you in a while," I said, whilst Insanity growled moodily before going back to sleep.

"I know- but I've been busy."

"_Liar."_

"Juubi says you're a liar," I informed her, and she raised an eyebrow before sitting on a chair next to the bed. To be honest, it made me feel like I was in the Shrinks office.

"Really? Does Juubi have anything else to say?"

"_You called me Juubi? Then I'll answer your question- but after Blue-girl leaves. Also, tell her that I told her to tell Pein that he will pay."_

"Apparently he wants you to tell Pein that he will pay," I informed Konan, who was sitting in a way that did make me feel like I was at the Shrinks, and they were trying to evaluate why I heard voices in my head.

"Why's that?"

"_Because being just a soul I am unfortunately being fused with the little girlies soul so her pain is mine. Plus, I'm not actually that evil- just because the Sage wanted to up his ego by sealing a demon away, that and he was too much of a coward to seal away Raikoba."_

I repeated what he said to Konan,

"So who's Raikoba then?" I questioned both Konan and Juubi.

"I don't think I've heard that name before," replied Konan.

"_Of course you haven't- Raikoba isn't stupid. He was the evil demon that terrorized the Shinobi world and I'm the one who got blamed for it- only because I'm a boy."_

"So Raikoba's a girl?"

"_Yup- you know about genes don't you? The X-chromosome and the Y-Chromosome? Well in demons this is important because these are what contain our powers, and since males have the Y-Chromosome we have less power than females so we are less likely to get the powers more likely to be associated demons such as shapeshifting and all other kinds of unlimitless power. So of course that means Raikoba has much more power than I or any of the Bijuu."_

I once again relayed the whole thing to Konan, who –as expected- looked shocked.

"So the demon that Madara is trying to bring back isn't the evil one? We need to find this Raikoba."

"_That won't be easy- Raikoba can take any form, even human!"_

"Don't demons having anything distinguishing about them when they change shape?"

"_Yes- Raikoba has the markings around her wrists which look like a bunch of violet commas in a ring around her wrist- as I said earlier. She also has Gold-Silver eyes. Sound familiar?"_

I gave Konan the description, but she shook her head.

"I don't think I've ever met anyone like that. Besides, I should inform Pein and Madara of that."

"Do we have to tell Madara?" I asked her.

"Unfortunately yes."

She smiled apologetically once more before leaving me confused.

"If you aren't 'evil' why were you so mean?"

"_Because I hate being sealed away- wouldn't you get annoyed this way?"_

"And why did you try and keep Deidara and I apart?"

"_Because love hurts- and besides he's a criminal. I've been in you your whole life, long enough to feel sorta fatherly to you- but don't expect this a lot."_

"If you say so. So now we have to locate Raikoba- but what will that do?"

"_Well, if you can seal her away you'll save a lot of lives. I know Raikoba likes her rampant destruction- plus it might help save some people you know."_

"Can you see the future or something?"

"_Maybe?"_

I layed back and closed my eyes, trying to remember- but my brain had decided to have a meltdown. But surely it should have been easy to locate a demon… unless the demon went somewhere it couldn't be detected… like- my world! Raikoba must have escape into my world? But the question is where to? Unless…

"Juubi? Can she change into a human male?"

"_Sure- don't seer why not."_

Then maybe- she's Masashi Kishimoto! But… as far as I'm aware Masashi Kishimoto does not have those demonic marks… I wonder…

"Juubi- can a demon get rid of those 'marks'?"

"_You don't need to ask out loud, I can read your mind- and yes, but it would involve betraying your species in an act so bad that the Demon council would remove your marks and declare you an outcast."_

"You have a council? Anyway- what act could be that bad for demons?"

"_One- don't assume all demons are evil, although it is true we look down on humans. Two, the act would be sleeping with a human- and what makes it worse is if you produce a Hanyou."_

"Hanyou? That's a half-demon isn't it? I remember that from InuYasha. Anyway, is it bad because it's specifically human or just random interspecies stuff."

"_Yeah, I don't want to discuss this- we're basically just talking about sex."_

"Well you're a guy, that's all guys think about."

"_Charming."_

"Wait a minute. So if Masashi Kishimoto is really a sadistic, soul-sucking demon from this world then that means this world was never fictional and it has always been real and Raikoba is using her future-seeing abilities to gain money for herself!"

"_Breathe."_

"So now we know where Raikoba is… sort of. Now where does Masashi Kishimoto live- and why wasn't I included in the storyline?"

"_Simply because she wanted to create a future which she knew you would not approve of so you would try to change things and in turn actually make them happen."_

"So would she know about our little conversation now- plus why would she want all this?"

"_Because if I am resurrected and then sealed inside the Uchiha then she can easily dispatch of me and of course you will be out of her way. Plus yes, she could know."_

"So basically she wants me and you out of the way for unknown reasons."

"…_Not… unknown, we do actually… know why- or rather… I do."_

"So why?"

"_Do you remember that your father- and here I mean Fugaku- was totally evil and wanted a revolution?"_

"Yeah- wait, are you saying that Fugaku was Raikoba? So I'm the offspring of a lesbian demon? That's both gross and cool –so Itachi, Sasuke and I are half-demons?"

"_Exactly, which is why when you get angry you turn all psycho and have black chakra- because I don't do possessing."_

"We have to tell them!"

"_What? Inform them that the father that was supposedly dead is alive and well in another world and is actually a sadistic lesbian demon? Well, good luck with that!"_

"Hang on… that means it was really me kissing Kakashi! Plus… was I manipulating Deidara?"

"_Well, sorta- but he loved you anyway."_

"Awesome."

"_Though we should find your brothers soon."_

"Why?"

"_I think your Mother/Father wants to visit."_

"Aw, hell."


	27. Chapter 27

So, after that bombshell had been dropped on me I decided that it would be nice to inform Itachi- though I had no idea how he would react to this news. However, that wasn't the only problem I came across.

"He's gone? Where?"

"On a mission. **Where else would he go?"**

"Excuse me if I don't trust you- but where?"

"Land of Fire. **You're still sore about before?"**

"What do you think?"

With that, I walked away from Zetsu and headed downstairs to the exit. Fuming about my luck- everybody was gone, well everybody I'd consider travelling with to retrieve Itachi since I can't leave on my own still. The only people left were Pein, Konan, Zetsu and Tobi/Madara.

Pein was the leader and he was hardly likely to come with me- especially because of those piercings/ transmitter-things.

Konan would probably want to stay with him.

Zetsu was a douchebag.

Tobi/ Madara- yeah. Like I need to explain that one.

"_You have me."_

"I know, but I can't exactly break Pein's rules and get away with it… again…"

I walked into the kitchen and retrieved an apple before sitting down at the empty table.

"_And you also can't fight Raikoba on your own- you need Madara on your side."_

"Whaat? Are you serious? There is no way Dr No is joining our side."

"_Dr No?"_

"He's a James Bond baddy."

"_I see… I thought you didn't like James Bond?"_

"I don't- I just know there is a villain called Dr No."

"_I see…" _said Juubi, clearly not believing me. Though it was true- at least for Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace because I could barely sit through half the film without becoming bored and watching something else. Besides, he totally ruined all those cool cars.

"Do you know what I just realised? This demon blood might explain why Sasuke's such a douchebag!"

"_You really like that word, don't you? Anyway you might be right with that, Sasuke is turning to his demon blood- unlike Itachi and you. Even though you have more since you are female and so you tend to go nutty once in a while."_

"Go nutty? You're supposed to be a demon and you say stuff like that?"

"Who said what Alex?"

I inwardly flinched at the sound of Tobi's voice, and looked up from my apple to see the masked terror standing before me with folded arms.

"Who is Alex talking to?" questioned Tobi.

"Why don't you drop the act Madara? Besides, I'm sure Konan explained it all to you."

"She may have," replied Madara, sitting opposite me. "But I'm sure Konan doesn't know it all, so you might as well explain it to me."

"And why should I?" My eyes narrowed, and I could have sworn I saw his Sharingan glaring at me.

"_Alex- we need him on our side. Just tell him."_

"Because if we cooperate then we can both get what we want," replied Madara calmly.

"And who says I want anything?"

"Well, would you rather let everyone you care about die? Because if Juubi is telling the truth then Raikoba will kill everyone- starting with those closest to you. That is how to torture someone after all, it is the way demons prefer their kills."

"And what do you get out of this?"

There was a small pause as the two glared at each other momentarily.

"I will get to be host to Raikoba."

"_Never saw that coming," _Juubi commented sarcastically.

"That's not much of a choice- work with evil man and help him get stronger or let evil demon kill everyone. Either way I'm going to end up with a lot of enemies- especially if I end up losing everyone anyway. But what the heck- I'd rather either founder of clan rather than the lesbian mom/dad."

"What?"

I sighed in defeat before retailing the whole story Madara, since it was better to have one super-evil enemy against you than two. He would occasionally nod and make the odd comment, but other than that said nothing.

"So what do you think?"

Madara didn't say anything for a while, but when he finally replied he said,

"I think it explains it was you who was chosen to be the weapon- since you are the only female child."

I blinked several times in surprise- I'd completely forgotten about the whole 'you-were-created-to-be-a-weapon-of-mass-destruction' thing.

"Yeah, whatever. So what's the plan now Uchiha?"

If I had X-ray vision, I bet I would have been able to see a smirk on his face.

"Uchiha? So we are on last name terms now are we?"

"Don't flatter yourself," I told him coldly.

Madara chuckled,

"If you don't start being nice to me then I won't help you find Itachi and Sasuke."

"What makes you think I need your help?" I asked bitterly. Just because I agreed to work with him doesn't mean I have to be nice to him.

"Well Pein told you that you aren't allowed to leave on your own- and do you really think Orochimaru will let you just waltz in there and take Sasuke?"

I frowned, he had a point- I'm sure Orochimaru still wanted me back. I rubbed the curse mark subconsciously- there was no way I was going back to being used as an experiment by that paedophile.

"Cooperation doesn't require being friends," pointed out Madara. "Just mutual feelings."

Great, even mutual feelings were way past the impossible mark for me.

"Do we have a deal?" asked Madara, his visible Sharingan staring at me.

I sighed,

"Fine."


	28. Chapter 28

After a day of being with Madara, we had eventually found Itachi- and I had managed not to go psycho in the Uchiha's presence. Of course, Itachi wasn't exactly overjoyed to see us.

"What are you doing here?" he asked us, as we approached him and Kisame at the streamside.

"Charming- we come all the way here trying to find you and all you can say is 'what are you doing here?'

Kisame chuckled whilst Itachi just looked at us whilst we sat down besides them, me trying to keep the worry from showing on my face- and probably failing from the feel of the twin bond thing, which apparently is also a demonic connection.

"So what brings you two here?" Kisame asked, Tobi and I exchanged glances before I replied;

"We need to speak to Itachi- privately if you don't mind."

It was Itachi and Kisame's turn to exchange a glance before Itachi nodded slightly,

"Why don't you find the target? I'm sure you can handle him by yourself."

Kisame grinned wickedly before getting up and walking off, leaving a heavy silence in wake. When we felt he was far enough away we began to talk.

"We have a very long and complicated tale to tell you," I said to Itachi, who was glaring at Madara.

"And why does he need to be here?"

"Don't you trust me?" chuckled Madara. "The fact is that you can't do this without my help- besides, we have a little deal going on now."

Itachi looked at me questionably, so I told him everything and mentally hoped he would believe me and that this new knowledge of his heritage wouldn't make him go psycho or anything. But when I did finish, he didn't say anything- he just stared emotionlessly at me.

"Are you sure we can trust what Juubi is saying?" he asked carefully, as though I was mental.

"_What? I dare you to say that to my face…. Oh right…"_

I rolled my eyes, and when the two looked at me questioningly I told them what Juubi had just said.

"He certainly doesn't seem evil," commented Madara. "More like… childish."

"And children have tantrums," I added, causing the two to look at me again. "If a demon child were to have a tantrum it would be a lot worse than tears and broken toys."

"True- but how do we know we can completely trust him?" asked Itachi.

"How do we know that you can't trust us?" asked Madara. "Because I don't believe it's the demon you have issues with."

"No," agreed Itachi. "It's you I have issues with."

"And you think I don't?" I pointed out. "Hell, I would have never agreed to this if it wasn't for the fact that this is an emergency."

Itachi still didn't look convinced- not that he looked anything.

"How do I know you aren't being blackmailed?"

I sighed irritably,

"Itachi, this isn't an issue of becoming 'best buddies'- we just need to work together in order to stop Raikoba."

Itachi turned to stare at me, and there was a long silence as we stared at each other.

"Why don't you go back to the lair."

When Itachi spoke, it was not a suggestion, it was an order.

"What?" asked Madara irritably. "You're going to act like a stubborn child because you can't accept the truth? If that's so then we will leave- and you and Sasuke will have to suffer."

I didn't bother to say anything, because that was one of the things I was thinking- what if he was in denial about this whole 'your-father-was-really-a-lesbian-demon-who-is-actually-responsible-for-everything-the-Jyuubi-supposedly-did' thing. Actually, I'm surprised that I'm not in denial about this whole thing- though I suppose I still have trouble thinking of myself as an Uchiha.

"Fine," I said to Itachi, before an argument could ensue. "We'll leave, Itachi. But you can only blame yourself when Sasuke dies."

Itachi stiffened and turned to glare at me,

"So because of the way I respond to this you choose not to save our younger brother?"

That was when I lost my temper.

"Do you want to know the truth? I hate Sasuke- I hate his guts and I've often wished that I could kill him, and even though this before I found out the truth I still hold these feelings. You go on about me being a part of your family when really I don't think of myself as an Uchiha. Why would I want to be a part of such a messed up family? All you do is make my life a misery, and even when everyone's lives are in danger you can't stop thinking about yourself!"

Itachi and Madara were staring at me in disbelief.

"_You are definitely part demon."_

"And I'm fed up with this demon- the demon which our parents put in me to turn me into a weapon. So, we might as well put the weapon to use and kill Raikoba, and if you aren't going to help me then I'll do it by myself."

"If you do that you'll be killed," pointed out Madara.

"Whoop-de-fucking-do! I'm not hanging about with a bunch of messed up Uchiha's and S-ranked criminals! I was perfectly happy living as a normal human until you guys came along and ruined my life! But you can forget everything- I am going by myself now, and if you try following me I swear to god I will kill you!"

With those words I stormed off, making sure they didn't see the tears falling down my face.


	29. Chapter 29

"Raikoba! Raikoba get your fucking ass out of hiding!"

Thunder rumbled loudly as I travelled through the mountain pass, my tiredness and frustration getting the better of me. I had been wondering for weeks, a time which I now knew meant we were in the Shippuuden timeline- meaning soon it would be time for Sasori to die. But I had bigger things to worry about, such as finding Raikoba and taking her down.

"I swear to God or Jashin or whatever fucking deity exists that I am going to kill you!"

"Kill me, huh? Now that I'd like to see."

I turned around to find Masashi Kishimoto standing there looking at me with evil in his eye.

"Why don't you drop the form, Raikoba?" I sneered at him/her. But Masashi only raised an eyebrow.

"Why would I do that? I'm quite comfortable in this form- or perhaps you would prefer a more familiar form?" With a sadistic grin she changed into Fugaku Uchiha, which didn't faze me at all.

"Nice try- but you're going to have to do better than that."

"Is that so?" she smirked, and changed once again- and this time it definitely fazed me.

She had changed into Janet- my last foster mum, the only one to be kind to me.

"You're her?" I asked, trying to keep the emotions out of my voice. "But how?"

"Clones," purred Raikoba. "Trust me; it's easy for a demon to maintain contact with clones on the other side of the world. So are you going to kill me or not?"

She moved so quick I couldn't see her until she kicked me in the solar plexus, knocking me back into the rock face. I could have sworn I heard something crack, and it was impossible to regain my breath.

"Poor girl, out of it already- you are weak my daughter, so weak. Do you really think you could kill me? Where else did you think you got your special sort of immortality from? Your human mother?" She laughed wickedly. "If you're going to come after me on your own then you're no better than your younger brother."

I was pretty sure a rib had punctured my lung, so speaking was almost an impossibility.

"Well it's not like anyone else would have helped," I replied, wincing in pain.

"Really? As I recall Madara agreed to help you- and Itachi wasn't far from doing so, you just let your temper get in the way of the goal." Raikoba didn't bother attacking again; she knew I couldn't do anything. "Plus did you really think you could beat me? I am more powerful than all of the Bijuu!"

I resisted the urge to say 'egotistical much?', and not just because every breath was like being stabbed by a kunai.

"Why don't you just go home?" Raikoba said cruelly. "Go home and give up- you can give up playing Shinobi because if it wasn't for the fact you were a girl you would be pathetic!"

Sexist bitch.

With that, Raikoba disappeared in a mini whirlwind, leaving me to consider how long it would take me to pass out. Apparently, not all that long.

**-XxX-**

Floating in darkness is over clichéd, but surprisingly quite soothing compared to having a hole in your lung. Note patronizing tone.

"Am I dead?" I asked whatever was out there- previous fanfiction experiences teaching me there was always something with you in the darkness.

As suspected someone appeared, and I was half-surprised to see Parvulus. I mean, I'd kinda forgotten about said bloody, fairy-outfit wearing, blond skeleton kid thing.

"It is good to see you again," said Parvulus. "And once again you are both dead and not dead- but in a good way, people will only view you as dying and time will pass normally."

"Yay?"

I really had no idea how to react to this whole thing- first I get my butt kicked in one move and then I find myself talking to a bloody skeleton. What great stories I'll have to tell my kids…okay, now I need to get rid of those mental images- curse you Deidara!

"Not yay- you must kill Raikoba before she destroys the Shinobi world!"

"But, she's immortal- I can't kill her!"

Parvulus raised a glass orb in her hand which showed an image of Kyuubi.

"What do you see in the Orbis?"

Bet you can't guess what that is Latin for **(A/N: In case you're wondering why Latin? It's because it's a dead language ;) Bad pun, I know)**.

"I see a grumpy old fox," I replied.

"And how can you kill the Kyuubi?"

"Um, you can't, can you? It's got really good healing powers." 

"Do you remember when Jiraiya pushed Naruto off a cliff?"

I thought back to that part of the anime and laughed,

"Yeah."

"Do you remember what the Kyuubi said?"

I ran through their conversation in my mind before it hit me.

"If Naruto dies the Kyuubi dies!" I declared happily. "So all we have to do is seal Raikoba in someone and then kill that someone."

"Like who?"

"Madara of course! Then we'd be killing two birds with one stone!"

"We?" Parvulus tilted its head to the side. "I thought you were working alone."

With those dramatic last words, Parvulus disappeared and I was slowly brought back to the land of colours, aka the land of the living.

Really slowly.

**-XxX-**

Opening my eyes, I found a familiar face leaning over me

"Oh, crap."


	30. Chapter 30

Now, everyone should know that waking up somewhere different than where you went to sleep (or fell unconscious in my case) is always a bad thing. Especially when you wake up to be met with a face that has been the cause of many a bad dream- and by that I don't mean he's ugly. By that I mean the one who put you through so much misery you died and then undied and got a puppet arm.

Yes, it was Orochimaru.

"What do you want?" I hissed, considering the many ways to dismember the wannabe- Lord Voldemort and his useless Harry Potter.

"I was only trying to help a dear friend," chuckled the Michael Jackson-wannabe. "Surely you of all people understand that."

"Understand that you're the Child Snatcher?"

From the look of confusion on his face I'm guessing he's never seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and from Deidara's reaction when Tobi started singing the songs from it he's wished he hadn't seen it. But hey, it could have been worse- I could have let him watch Teletubbies.

"Lord Orochimaru has heard about the predicament you are facing- with Raikoba, and he wishes to offer you his help- in return for a little something."

Like what? The demon," I snorted. "'Cause if that's it then you're too late because I promised the little beastie to someone."

How the hell did he know about Raikoba? Unless he was spying on our battle- but that doesn't really explain it all. Unless… he was eavesdropping on my little conversation with my dear brother and older relative- who is related to me in an unknown way.

"No, what I want from you," began Orochimaru. "Is for you to willingly give me your body as my new vessel."

Queue the 'dun dun dun' music.

"What the hell? But that's why you have Sasuke isn't it?"

Orochimaru chuckled as I struggled to sit up, eventually doing so but causing a great pain in my chest.

"Yes, but your powers are far greater than his- you have loads of untapped potential which I would like to draw out."

"So let me get this straight. You want to help me get much stronger so I can defeat Raikoba and give her as a little pressie to an enemy and in return you'll take my body as your next vessel?" 

"Correct."

"So what happens to Sasuke?" I questioned, because Sasuke was so set on becoming powerful that I doubt he would appreciate his now 20yr old sister getting much more powerful than him- especially if Orochimaru tells him about the part why I declared my hate for him. So it looks like this all boils down to Sasuke in the end-we are all doomed.

"Sasuke will still get his training so he can beat his older brother, but he will no longer be required as a vessel."

"Does this mean Naruto can drag his ass back to the Leaf Village?"

Orochimaru chuckled.

"That's really up to Sasuke, isn't it?"

"What's up to me?"

We turned to see Sasuke enter the room in his full Shippuuden glory- how come I had to have my least favourite character as a brother? Well, I actually hate Karin and Kabuto more so…

"I was just introducing a deal to your sister which means I will no longer need you- although I will train you as I'd love to see Itachi get what he deserves after he cut of my hand." His voice became angry when he mentioned Itachi- I guess he isn't too popular around here.

"So what's the deal?" asked Sasuke, watching me coldly- if it were up to me then I'd forcibly drag him back to the Leaf village.

"I train her and she willingly gives me her body as a vessel."

Is it just me or is everything happening to me? Let Itachi go beat Raikoba, I just want to go home- though if I agree to the deal than that's never going to happen. Unless I did what Sasuke did… if I can…

But I don't even know what he did, and I can't ask him because he hasn't done it yet which means he will probably have no idea and I'll either look crazy or… yeah, just crazy…

"Are you going to agree to it?" I looked at Sasuke and tilted my head slightly,

"Avenger says what?"

"Are you going to agree to his deal?"

I stroked my imaginary beard, pretending to think about it when in reality I already knew the answer to that.

"Well, being trained by Snakey sounds better than being trained by Akatsuki- not because he's better 'cause I still – sorta- like Akatsuki. But because in Akatsuki I am repeatedly annoyed, almost blown up, sharingan'ed and sacrificed- and that's on a good day."

"If you had been sacrificed you would be dead," pointed out Kabuto.

"Says you."

Maybe I would get to kill Kabuto- that would make me very happy.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to give up your body to him?" questioned Sasuke, and Orochimaru and I laughed- well, he chuckled.

"I believe you were quite willing to give me your body," said Orochimaru.

I was just laughing because Sasuke had pulled a weird face when he said that- I think he was trying to act concerned. Man, I hadn't laughed like this since Tobi 'accidentally' slammed the door in Deidara's face, breaking his nose- which of course resulted in an explosion. Though thankfully at the time I had Hidan the human shield to protect me- who in turn chased me around the base. Good times, good times.

"So are you going to accept?" questioned Kabuto, who was making it obvious he didn't quite trust me.

"Well duh! It's not like I have a choice."

I laughed once again, inwardly constructing a plan which would save my sorry ass from Orochimaru's -and possible Deidara's- wrath.


	31. Chapter 31

Of course no-one was going to be happy that I accepted the offer- especially not Itachi and Deidara. But they didn't need to be told, especially since I would lose them either way. Though it didn't stop the fact that I missed them both- heck, I even missed Hidan a little. But not Zetsu, I'm still not forgiving that evil weed. Although I suppose I did need to go back- I had a deal with Madara, and I doubt he would be very happy if I left without him. Not that it was possible for me to kill Raikoba because she was immortal- unless she was sealed in Madara and then we kill killed Madara. But who was we?

I sighed as I rolled over onto my stomach- I had been left in bed to recover, though it felt more like I had been left to enjoy the last moments of my life. Even though all I've done is lay here and mope about giving my life away to the paedo-snake- who was no doubt having a party to celebrate my accepting of the deal. I'll bet he has streamers and everything- and I'll bet Sasuke is moping around, but just because he's emo.

Thinking of that reminded me of the Naruto episode 'The Top 5 battles' where Orochimaru tells then Sasuke is moping around. I loved that episode because those top five battles were brilliant- especially since the numbers 1, 2 and 4 battles were my favourites. But that isn't going to help me- unless this is all like some weird fanfiction and the author decides they'll keep me alive. So if this is some weird story- please readers (if there are any) plead for my life. There is no way in hell I'm going to belong to Orochimaru- even if every god, author and demon says I shall!

"_Speaking of demons, I'll help you if you apologise."_

"Bite me."

Don't hate me for this Juubi, but I'd like to do it with my own abilities- and prove to whoever it is that is making my life a misery that I can do it and I don't need some demon to help me do it.

"Alex, hmm?"

I felt my body go stiff, and I turned around in surprise (not happy surprise) to see Deidara standing in the doorway with a smirking Orochimaru behind him.

"Don't worry little one," he purred. "I've already told him about our little deal." With that he departed, closing the door behind him as Deidara hugged me tightly, me all the while feeling the guilt gnawing at my insides- or maybe I was hungry, I could do with some chocolate.

"What are you thinking, hmm? Making a deal with him!"

He held me at arms length, and I looked into his visible eye and mentally flinched at how much this must hurt him- whoever said bad guys don't care about anyone but themselves was so wrong.

"Sorry," I mumbled, looking down. I heard him sigh, and he pulled me back into a hug again- his lips resting on my forehead.

"You are more trouble than you're worth- and you're worth a lot to me."

I didn't know whether to be offended or pleased with that sentence, so I settled with remaining indifferent. But I knew that I had messed this up so bad- this world that is. Well, actually what I'd done was proven that the good guys aren't completely good and the bad guys aren't completely bad- I'd also uncovered a secret about the real threat to this world and thus brought it back whilst the scapegoat demon remains in whilst I go around like a Mary-Sue with all this love crap.

I knew what I had to do- I had to take care of Raikoba and get the hell out of here so the world can get back to the way it's supposed to be, even though no one will know it because the author of Naruto- now known as Raikoba- was hopefully going to be dead or sealed away forever (But not in Madara). So it was kinda obvious what I was going to have to do- I was going to have to learn Adamantine Nyoi.

But then a whole bunch of problems arise- such as how was I going to learn this? Would this work? Can I do it- but I'd have to deal with the first problem so that would probably involve going to the Leaf village and asking politely- yeah, right! What was I thinking! That the Leaf village was going to let me learn a jutsu like that- plus do they even have the jutsu? I mean, we know it was the Fourth's jutsu, and the third knew it… but do we really know that much more about it…

Unless… Madara knew it… But even if he did there was no way he would teach it to me- he's smart enough to know not to trust me, he would never teach it to me- not in a million years… But it was the only way- the only way to end this…

"Are you listening, hmm?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at Deidara, who looked worried.

"Sorry- I'm just thinking."

Yeah, thinking about how the hell I'm going to learn a jutsu like Adamantine Nyoi.

"About what, hmm?"

I was probably the world's biggest jerk, any Deidara fan would give anything to be in my place. But being a fan doesn't necessarily mean you like them for who they are- you can fool yourselves as many times as you want into thinking it, but in the end it all comes down to the stone cold truth. It was just like Deidara had said, you rush a relationship and you will never have chance to develop the feelings, ending up in a tangled web of lies and delusions- and then you're truly in too deep.

"Deidara… we need to talk."


	32. Chapter 32

It's been a year- one whole year, and from what I've heard the plot has been screwed up. The Akatsuki are still hunting the tailed beasts, but Madara no longer plays a part with them as he knows he will get Raikoba now. Sasori, Hidan and Kakuzu did die as they were supposed to, but Deidara's and Itachi's deaths have not happened and there has been no destruction of the Leaf and Naruto returned from his sage training without a hitch, the only reason I know that being rumours about some guy almost getting squished by giant toads. Jiraiya and Asuma died- as did Chiyo and various others. So people might say it's a better future as no unplanned deaths have happened- but that just isn't true. A few months ago the Hidden snow village was destroyed by Raikoba and she's now apparently heading to the Hidden cloud village- something about a favour to repay.

As for me, I had been doing my training, my demon blood helping me tremendously even though I had spent some time feeling really guilty about telling Deidara that I didn't love him- but I did influence him so he was convinced that he hadn't loved me either. Wouldn't want him to do something stupid or anything.

Now the problem- I had no way of killing Raikoba. It looked like I was going to have to go through with the original plan of sealing her in Madara and letting the rest of the world deal with him- I just wanted to go home. I missed my friends and my cats- and so here we are now, Madara and I, preparing to seal away Raikoba. The plan being I weaken her and he seals her away- very nice of him. Also, Madara had agreed to send me back home after this- mainly because he didn't like Orochimaru.

"This is gonna be so annoying," I sighed, sitting on a rocky ledge whilst Madara kept an eye out for Raikoba. He had judged that she would come this way on her path to the Cloud village- and it did indeed prove to be true as she was now making her way. Unfortunately, she was also back in demon mode which meant she was some giant manticore-thing. Lions head and body, mane of fire, scorpion tail and huge leathery wings. Man, I'd really hate to have er as my mother…oh…

"Time to fight," said Madara- a little too cheerful for my liking. But there really wasn't anything I could do about it, I had to go and kick demon butt.

'You ready Juubi?'

"_I was born ready!"_

We used our combined transformation (I transformed into demon mode and he 'possessed' me which resulted in a dual transformation- simples! Lol, I love that meerkat) and when the smoke had cleared it revealed a two-headed, six limbed, ten-tailed black lion-thing! By six limbed- I mean like the creatures out of Avatar, four front legs and two rear.

"So Juubi has come out to play?" purred Raikoba. "This promises to be interesting."

"Damn right, bitch!" yelled Juubi, and we lifted up to of our front legs- all the training working on being able to synchronise out movements since he controlled the left side and I controlled the right side. We quickly formed handsigns,

'Fire and Wind Combo: Destructive wave.'

The combined fire and wind moved incredibly fast through the valley and Raikoba jumped up out of the way, only part of her back legs getting burnt. She opened her wings and flapped them, keeping herself aloft for longer until the flames had died down. When she did land, it was obvious that it had done at least some damage. Yay for us- note the sarcasm by the way.

'_Okay… now what?'_

'We could wing it?'

'_Ah yes, the master plan.'_

Yeah, we hadn't come into battle with a master plan- mainly we came into battle with more of a goal.

Raikoba's tail was poised, ready to strike- so Juubi and I prepared to dodge. The poisonous barb shot towards us and we jumped to the right, making sure we didn't squash Madara- even though he could probably get away. Unfortunately, Raikoba was faster than us and her tail left a long cut in our side- and the fiery pain of venom was felt spreading throughout our body.

"Too bad- it's over now," said Raikoba with a laugh, "you have about half an hour to live."

"Plenty of time to kick your butt," I replied and we ran at her, dodging her tail and then sinking our- both heads- teeth into her spine. She used her tail to dislodge us and then opened her wing with such force I'm sure my jaw cracked. Unfortunately I wasn't an extremely fast healer, so – using the little knowledge I have- I've probably sped up the venom time since I have blood pouring out of my mouth. Well, not pouring- I just hoped I wouldn't die of blood loss before I could kick her ass into the next century.

"Come on- is that all you've got?"

Raikoba was right- we were losing at the moment, poisoned and one head with a broken jaw whilst she had small burns and two bites in her spine- which hadn't apparently done much damage.

'_Time for plan B.'_

'We have a plan B? I didn't even know we had a plan A!'

Raikoba leapt at our unguarded side, sinking her teeth into our ribs and we used our tails to snare her and Juubi sunk his teeth into her arm/ leg thing as I prepared a flame rasengan. Luckily it didn't take long and I managed to hit her square in the chest, knocking her backwards into a mountain resulting in said mountain being destroyed and mountain dust being thrown up everywhere so we couldn't see anything.

"Do you think that did it?" I asked Juubi out loud.

There was a loud screech and Raikoba jumped out of the dust and clamped her own needle-like teeth into my injured jaw. Juubi responded by biting her throat whilst I tried to pull back- but I was feeling dizzy and my chest hurt. Raikoba had punctured our lungs and broke a few ribs- damn that demon! We were losing blood at an alarming pace and the venom was working its way through our body as I spoke. Not exactly the greatest battle ever, but we didn't need to weaken her much. We wrapped our tails around her again, and she let go- time for Madara to make his move.

There was a blinding flash of white light and we quickly released Raikoba- no sense in our getting sealed away. So it was finally, I thought as we ended the transformation- all the injuries staying with me. A disappointing fight- but hey, they did say that normally fights didn't last more than a few seconds in real combat here. This meant that if I didn't die of blood loss or being poisoned then whoever said that was so gonna get sued. It may have only been about a couple of minutes longer- but it was them few minutes that had cost me.

I lay on the floor, struggling to breathe as the world faded from view. Well, I suppose the upside of this is I'll get to see Vein and Panic again. So with that last thought, I closed my eyes and embraced the darkness.


	33. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

_Poor girl, _thought Madara as he stared out of the dusty window, _she should have known what the consequences were._ He was referring to the fact that when Alex had 'died' he had sent her back to her world- the effects had been almost immediate. Her influencing of Deidara had worn off and he had later blown himself up in a fight against Sasuke, Itachi had later fought against his brother but lost to his disease. Also, news soon reached Akatsuki of all the Bijuu dying- as well as their hosts- a sign that the Juubi had died, and his host.

Alex may have thought she was smart- but she forgot two things. One, that in the other world stuff like returning from the dead, was impossible- so she remained dead, and two- Madara was the bad guy- and why would he want her to come back and spoil everything for him? Akatsuki had disbanded because the Bijuu no longer existed so they couldn't create a super weapon- plus he didn't need them anymore. That annoying Kyuubi brat who had been a thorn in his side was dead and there was no one from stopping him –a jinchuuriki even stronger than the Sage of Six Paths- from doing what bad guys do best.

Insanity sat on his masters lap, purring loudly- uncaring about the girl who used to own him. Madara stroked him absentmindedly,

Who said crime didn't pay?

**Kakashi Forever: And cut! That's a wrap people!**

**Hidan: What a fucking bitch- you killed me!**

**Kakashi Forever: You were dead anway- sorry for the sucky ending peple, they aren't my forte.**

**Madara: I liked it**

**Kakashi Forever: *Rolls eyes* No duh genius.**

_**Thanks to my reviewers!**_

Applesandtea

Carvainianwitch101

Ria- The Ninja of Time

Princess Zathura

Ninja from the land of tacos

Tsuki Kiba Kumori

Yuti-Chan

XSweetXSourXSoulX

Stryker-M

Yuuki-sama-13

Ashleigh131

nibijinchuuriki

Ookami-no-Seirei

MidnightDrizzle

XxItachiFanGirlxX

Queen Baka

MayaCompany

AkatsukiMemberShadow

I love creepy things

Bookworm 73

AidoRockz

And to anyone who reviews after this is up! Love you all! Plus a BIG thanks to all those who favourited it and alerted it! I would write all your names but I'm too lazy- this is why

_**The Lost and the Found**_

**Favourite: **29

**Story Alert: **33

That is a hell of a lot names for a lazy person like me to right- anywayz, I gotta update Ninja Art: What the hell! MY main priority at the moment!

AWaaaaaaaay!


	34. AN

**A/N: Hi to all those of you reading this! You may or may not be happy to know that I'm rewriting this fic and I hope you'll get around to reading and reviewing. It won't be exactly the same plotwise, but I'm hoping it will match up to this fic at least. ^-^**

**Thanks!- DoS, formerly Kakashi Forever**


End file.
